100 Themes Challenge - Raven x Elesis
by tricksterflame
Summary: Will be updated every so often, all with the pairing Raven x Elesis. Themes range from angst to fluff to character death, but I can at least promise that all 100 themes will be free of grammar errors and as in-character as I can make them.
1. Introduction

**Elesis – Base**

 **Raven – Before Base**

* * *

You would almost think they were trying to kill each other.

Alex watched his best friend fight with this strange girl, her strikes being blocked and deflected by his dancing blade. She wasn't half bad at dodging Raven's lightning swipes and thrusts, either, managing to twirl out of the way each time to launch another controlled attack with her massive claymore.

It was one of the most entertaining fights Alex had seen in a long while.

"Time," he finally called out, and both fighters stopped immediately, Raven skidding to a halt and looking over at Alex with his familiar annoyed expression. He never did like to be stopped in the middle of a fight.

"You're the one who told me to time it for five minutes,"Alex defended himself, then looked over at the red-haired girl. "You're pretty good, for the way, especially for someone as young as you are." She looked like she was somewhere between thirteen and fourteen, a rough seven years younger than Raven and Alex.

"Thanks." The girl straightened her ponytail and stabbed the point of her claymore into the ground. "Uh, sorry, what were your names again?"

"I'm Alex. The guy who challenged you is Raven."

Raven waved. "And your name?"

"Elesis. Elesis Seighart."

Seighart, Seighart... Alex was sure he recognized the name, but it must not have been a noble one, because he couldn't match a face to it.

"I might as well," Elesis said, and Alex realized that Raven must have asked a question while he was trying to think. Crap.

Raven nodded. "The Crow Mercenaries will want to see a skillful fighter like you. Who were you trained by?"

"My dad. A Velder knight."

Raven glanced at Alex. Alex gave a small shake of his head to tell Raven that he didn't recognize the name or occupation.

Elesis laughed. "He wasn't a very prominent one," she reassured them, and Alex shrugged.

"Must not have been."

Raven punched him in the arm before turning to Elesis.

"C'mon. Our boss probably want to see you," he repeated, and Elesis shrugged.

"As you've said. Lead the way, Raven, Alex."

Raven almost smiled. He turned, jerking his head to get Alex to follow him. Alex stayed a pace or two behind his best friend and the girl, listening to their conversation.

None of them knew that Raven and Elesis were destined to be comrades in just a few short years, brought together, in a way, by Alex's schemes and machinations.


	2. Complicated

**Elesis – Crimson Avenger**

 **Raven – Reckless Fist**

* * *

"We're not dating," Elesis muttered snappishly. The Shade seemed to be laughing maniacally, giving Elesis a gigantic, pounding headache.

"He goes into your room every night." Ara lounged lazily on the back of the couch, poking Elesis with one sharpened nail. "What do you two do in there?"

"N'thing." That nail was going to be bitten off if it went any closer to Elesis' face.

"Liar."

Elesis lazily cracked open one eye to see the giant smirk on Ara's face, then quickly shut it again. Light always agitated the Shade when she was like this.

"I hear noises from your room at night," Ara continued, moving her poking from Elesis' stomach to her shoulder. "Strange noises." Elesis could almost hear the grin in Ara's voice as she moaned. Loudly.

"Ra- Raven! Ahhh..."

One movement was all it took from Elesis for Ara's arm to be twisted awkwardly against the couch back. If Elesis moved her hand any more, Ara would have a broken wrist.

Despite her compromising position, she didn't seem too worried. "Ah, did I hit a nerve?"

"You'll be hitting the floor if you don't shut up," Elesis grumbled, eyes still closed. "Raven and I have never had sex, by the way."

"So what do you do instead?"

Elesis considered breaking Ara's wrist. It would be really easy to do so, except for the fact that she and the annoying fox tended to be useful in battle. That was a shame. Bloodshed would mollify the manic Shade.

But on the other hand – _shut UP, Shade –_ it wasn't like Elesis was going to tell Ara that she and Raven usually just held each other, each pretending that the tears streaming down the other's face weren't there. His arm bugged him almost as much as her Shade did, though it hadn't got to the point where it was actively torturing him yet. They both found that it was easier to cope with everything when there was someone else there, someone solid that they could turn to for comfort, so their little arrangement was born.

"If you don't tell me, I'm just gonna assume you were lying about the screwing," Ara teased, and Elesis opened her mouth and snapped at Ara's finger to stop it from poking her cheek. The Shade shrieked with glee.

"We talk," she lied. They didn't really talk much after the first few nights, when they had ended up sobbing, pouring out their trials and tortures to each other. After that, they only talked when they really needed a distraction.

"About?" Ara prodded. Elesis bit the errant finger again.

"Fox traps."

Ara finally withdrew her finger. Her chuckle coincided jarringly with a particularly loud screech from the Shade.

"That's totally all you talk about," she murmured suggestively and Elesis fought through the pain to open one eye again.

"I'm going to kill you when this bloody Shade shuts up. If Raven doesn't get to you first."

Ara stretched, somehow managing to roll over on the couch back. "And this is why you're the cutest couple in all of Elrios."

Her surprised shriek when she hit the floor (courtesy of a hard shove from Elesis) pacified the Shade for a bit, just long enough for Elesis to wonder what would happen if she brought up the idea of an actual relationship to Raven. He'd probably punch her, never come to her room again, or both. She settled again inside her nest of pillows, and decided that their relationship was far too complicated to ever be simplified like that.


	3. Making History

**Elesis – Grand Master**

 **Raven – Blade Master**

* * *

" _Guardians of Elrios?_ "

Raven read the book title aloud, sounding skeptical. Elesis' head shifted in his lap.

"Someone wrote a book about the Elgang."

Raven stared down at her, loosely gripping the cloth he was using to polish his blade. "How did they get enough information on us to write a book?"

"By talking to literally everyone we've ever helped, apparently." Elesis stretched, winced as the movement agitated the stab wound in her side, and settled again, her head still pillowed on Raven's thighs. "It's not very accurate. They think Add was in league with Wally at one point."

"That's not unbelievable," Raven muttered, having heard about Wally when he had first asked Lenphad for training tips.

"And Aisha's kisses are magical and brought Elsword back to life when Berthe sliced his chest open."

The cloth dropped onto Elesis' face. Raven swore and put his blade down on the bed carefully, not wanting to accidentally scratch Elesis by picking it up with his claw. She was already hurt with a stab wound, which was why Raven was in her room like this in the first place.

"When did Berthe slice Elsword's chest open?" he asked when the cloth was back in his hand. Elesis shrugged.

"You were in that battle, right?"

Raven nodded. "I'm pretty sure we would have noticed if Elsword had a gaping hole in his chest."

Elesis laughed – quietly, though, because most of the Elgang were asleep in their own rooms. She brought the book back up over her face and turned the page.

"This is so bad it's funny," she muttered, and Raven picked up his blade again to resume cleaning it.

"Do they say anything about me?"

"Uh... Mostly that you're the oldest member of the Elgang and that you have a Nasod arm." Elesis lowered the book again just enough to see Raven over it. "Of course, they go into rather disconcerting detail about how you got that arm."

"Is any of it true?"

"I don't think so... There's a lot of detail about your trial, and it makes it seem like Alex was actually right. And like getting the Nasod arm was your punishment. And then it cuts straight to when you were under Nasod control."

Raven was silent. When Elesis looked up at him, his chin was set and he was fixedly cleaning his blade.

She lifted her head off his lap. "Raven?"

"I'm fine. I've had worse things said about me." His voice was low. "Lie back down. That stab wound isn't going to heal itself."

Elesis complied. "The book's trash anyways. Anyone who says Aisha's such a good kisser that she can bring people back to life..."

Raven grunted agreement. His jaw was still clenched, his Nasod arm rigid as it swept the cloth over his blade.

Elesis sighed and sat up, making sure that she didn't bump her head on the sharp blade.

"Your kisses are much better," she murmured, and silenced his protest about her sitting up with her lips.


	4. Rivalry

**Elesis – Crimson Avenger**

 **Raven – Reckless Fist**

* * *

Elsword dug his blade into the muddy ground and leaned on it, playing with a rune and trying to ignore the demon battle below. The rest of the Elgang clustered around him in silence save for two people.

"Wild Charge!" Raven slammed about fifteen demons across the field with the force of his rush. Those that weren't killed instantly were cut down by his blade.

"How cute," Elesis smirked. "Blood Cutter!"

A spinning disk of her own blood scythed a path through the demons. Raven took care of the stragglers quickly, wanting to add to his own death count.

Elesis usually won these contests of who could kill more demons before the rest of the Elgang intervened and shut them both down. And while Raven wanted to win, he didn't mind too terribly when Elesis added yet another point to her score. It was the contest itself he loved, the deadly rush of kill or be killed and the added competition against a girl who used her own blood to fight. And besides, he loved watching Elesis in battle. When she wasn't fighting, she tended to be either lethargic or pissed off. When she was fighting, she laughed, chatted, and killed, all with the same reckless abandon. It was almost like the girl who Raven had first bonded with was coming back.

But that Elesis was gone, never to return. Raven wished there were some way to heal the effects of the Dark El, but all of them had searched and there didn't seem to be a way.

"Come on, Raven," Elesis called in annoyance, and Raven realized he had just been fighting on autopilot. The last demon had already been punched down by his Nasod arm. He really had to stop letting the arm take control of him like that.

"Hold your cockatigles," he responded pithily, making sure the stage was clear before signaling the rest of the Elgang that they could move ahead. "I'll get the most kills in the next stage."

"Only if you steal mine," Elesis muttered, starting to run toward their next fight. Raven kept up, suddenly eager to try and win.

Their rivalry was a bittersweet one, of killing demons and protecting each other from being killed, both knowing that their methods of fighting could make them drop dead or turn on their friends at any moment. Neither cared about this. There was always the fight, the adrenaline rush of killing and vengeance and the sheer joy of power. They would worry about the rest when the time came.


	5. Unbreakable

**Elesis – Grand Master**

 **Raven – Blade Master**

* * *

Elesis had never seen Raven's eyes glassed with tears like this. She hadn't liked seeing the kid die today either, but it seemed to have hit Raven particularly hard.

He turned his head away, blinking hard. "I'm sorry," he choked out. "It's just... I-"

Elesis leaned forward to put her hand on his shoulder, his bedsprings creaking under her weight. "You can talk to me, you know," she whispered, but he jerked away violently from the contact. He pressed his human hand to his eyes, shaking his head.

"I don't want you to see me like this."

"I'm not leaving," Elesis said softly, her hand dropping back into her lap. "Please. You can open up to me."

It was a while before he spoke.

"That girl. The one ripped open by the demons. She reminded me of Seris." Raven choked on the words. "Seris was so terrified when Alex killed her... And that little girl, too..." A lone tear slipped from his eye, but more were quickly welling up as he thought about it. "We couldn't save her, I know that. But it reminded me of the sheer fear in Seris' eyes when she died."

The pain in Raven's voice made Elesis' heart hurt. What would it be like, she wondered, to have something that traumatic in your past, and be unable to forget it because of the physical way your body changed because of it? To bottle it up day after day for nearly four years until you just couldn't take it anymore?

"Raven," she whispered, and Raven turned his head toward her, tears now running down his face.

"I'm sorry." He tried to wipe away the tears, but more just replaced them. "I shouldn't break like this, I know."

"No," Elesis whispered, reaching out for him again. This time, she pulled him into a hug, and he buried his face in her shoulder after only a brief hesitation.

"Raven..." she whispered, bending her head to press her lips to his short black hair. "You finally opened up to me." She felt Raven shift into a more comfortable position, so he wasn't leaning as far forward, but he stayed in her arms. "Please, never shut me out again. I like this side of you as much as I like the stoic, strong Raven that everyone knows."

"Elesis..." Raven pulled away a bit. "I'm sorry. Even Seris didn't have much patience for me when I was like this."

Elesis cupped the back of his head with one hand, pulling him back to her shoulder. "I'm not Seris," she whispered, and Raven curled closer to her until he was almost sitting in her lap.

Elesis shifted her position, and Raven threw his arm around her to make sure she wasn't leaving.

"Don't worry," she reassured him, tightening her grip. "I'll stay with you until you feel better."

"I'm sorry," Raven whispered again, just before he broke down completely. His sobs were heaving, racking, making his entire body shudder and convulse as he wept.

Elesis blinked back her own tears, silently letting him cry. She knew from experience that comforting words didn't help when one was like this. Raven just needed to cry, something he obviously hadn't done in a long while.

Finally, Raven quieted. Elesis rubbed soothing circles into his back.

"Nobody's unbreakable," she whispered, and Raven raised his head to look at her. She kissed his tearstained face, tasting the salt on his skin.

"I should be, though," he murmured, but Elesis shook her head.

"That's impossible."

Raven closed his eyes as Elesis kissed him gently on the lips. When she pulled away, Raven had only one word.

"Stay."

And Elesis nodded.


	6. Obsession

**Elesis – Crimson Avenger**

 **Raven – Veteran Commander**

* * *

Raven knew what it was like to care for your comrades. He even knew what it was like to draw strength from their passing and fight in their name.

This obsession, though, was a little much.

"They're close," Elesis growled. Her normally dull eyes were flaming with bloodlust and vengeance.

"Elesis, I don't think-"

"They're close! The ones who killed my comrades!"

Raven held his arm away from his body as the vents spouted fire. "If you don't keep your head, you'll get killed."

"I'll take as many of them as I can with me, then," Elesis snarled, and kicked a spinning disk of her own blood at the demons. It slashed through all of them, spurting black blood everywhere, and Elesis laughed at the gruesome sight.

Raven winced and looked away, shrugging at a horrified Elsword. Yes, the scene was terrible. But this was why people now called Elesis the Crimson Avenger.

"Calm your tits," Add muttered as he flew past them, stopping to hover over a demon's body as one Dynamo darted inside it to look around. It emerged covered in black blood and quivering, upon which Add just sighed and moved on.

Elesis didn't seem to like the insult. She made a move to attack Add, but Raven grabbed her by what little fabric there was on her collar and held her back.

"He's your comrade now. Don't let the bloodlust control you."

Elesis slapped him away. "My old friends will be avenged tonight. The demons will pay," she hissed, and there was a demonic tinge to her own voice. Almost like Elesis wasn't all there.

A roar from behind told them that the Berserker Armageddon hadn't been fully killed. Yet. Elesis spun around and hurtled off to deal with it, and Raven followed her, unwilling to let her die. He hadn't seen any signs of the old Elesis for some time now, but maybe, just maybe...

Honestly, the Elgang would have killed Elesis by now, fearing her overwhelming power and instability, if Elsword didn't keep vouching for her. Raven always backed him up. He remembered the strong, confident girl that he had first met on that first patrol day in the woods with Alex, and sometimes he thought he saw flashes of that girl in the Crimson Avenger.

But as Raven rained explosive shells down upon the berserker, and Elesis used her own blood to slash away at him (laughing manically the entire time, of course), Raven realized that one day, this obsession would take Elesis over completely.

And when that happened, he doubted any amount of reason or pleading from him or Elsword could stop the Elgang from executing what they believed to be justice.


	7. Eternity

**Raven – Veteran Commander**

 **Elesis – Blazing Heart**

* * *

The grass rustled in the light breeze. Clouds scudded across the blue Hamel sky, fitting in perfectly with the white marble buildings and the sound of rushing water that seemed to permeate the entire city.

Looking up into that sky made Elesis feel like she was falling, but falling _up_ , if that was somehow made possible. The endless blue seemed to surround her until she had to blink and look away, sort of scared that the intense blue would fill her up and quench her fire.

She turned her head to stare at the guy lying next to her. Raven's hair blew across his face, and his eyes were closed. His head was cupped in the palm of his Nasod hand. Elesis wondered if that was at all comfortable.

She sighed and scooted closer to him, looking up again.

"Y'know, I always felt like I could spend forever staring at the sky when I was younger," she murmured, and was surprised when Raven grunted acknowledgment.

"I thought you were asleep?"

"Not really, just dozing." He turned his head, eyes slitted like a cat's. "You were saying?"

"Mmmh. Yeah. Like, when I couldn't sleep at night, I would climb up on the roof of our Ruben house and just watch the stars."

"I wonder if the stars existed before the El, or if they popped into existence when it crashed down?"

Elesis furrowed her brow and propped herself up on her elbows, staring down at Raven. "Are you okay? You don't usually say things like that."

Raven opened his eyes fully to wave her off. "Yeah. I know. I didn't get enough sleep last night, so my brain isn't really working."

Elesis lay back down slowly, looking back up at the sky. She pointed out a cloud. "Look, that one's like little bro's sword."

Raven hummed low in his throat. "I'm not seeing anything but a dolphin."

"A... Dolphin?"

Raven nodded, one tanned finger tracing the shape of a cloud. Elesis squinted. Yeah, it sort of looked like a dolphin, but...

"It looks more like Chung's cannon after Aisha's spell backfired that one time."

Raven snorted. "Good El, that was terrible. I thought Chung was going to blow her head off."

"How could he without a cannon?"

Raven's chuckle was low and musical, Elesis' laugh far louder than his. Raven cut himself off with a yawn.

"Wow, you really didn't get enough sleep. How late were you up last night?"

"If I tell you, will you get mad at me?"

"Only if you went to bed after one in the morning."

Raven was silent. Elesis elbowed him in the ribs, then immediately regretted it when she remembered that the armor on his coat covered his ribs.

"Ow. Hit my funny bone." She winced, holding her elbow. Raven chuckled again.

"You really shouldn't be talking. I saw you scorching pretty patterns into the marble when I was just about to go to sleep." Raven turned his head to look playfully at her. "Are you _sure_ you're awake?"

Elesis shrugged, fighting back a yawn. Who was it that once told her yawning was contagious? Was it Vanessa?

"I could probably use a nap," she admitted readily, then squeaked when Raven's human arm slipped under her back. She didn't need much prompting to roll over and snuggle into his side.

When she looked up, Raven was looking down at her with that heart-pounding look that he reserved only for her. It was some mix of tenderness and fierce protectiveness and happiness, and Elesis knew that the look was probably mirrored in her own face.

Raven's eyes slowly closed. Elesis splayed her hand over his chest and wriggled to make herself more comfortable.

What if, she wondered as she closed her eyes and enjoyed the warm drowsiness of the afternoon, what if that look could be the last thing she saw every time she fell asleep?

Even better, what if they could freeze this perfect moment for eternity?


	8. Gateway

**Raven – Blade Master**

 **Elesis – Grand Master**

* * *

"This is it, then."

Elesis jumped and nearly spilled an ink bottle over her desk. Raven had a _metal arm_ , for the love of the El. Couldn't he make just a bit more noise while walking into your office?

"Yeah." She looked up and smiled at Raven, capping the ink bottle and laying down her pen. "Feel free to sit, by the way. When do you guys leave?"

"Tomorrow." She noted how soft his footfalls were, even on the flagged stone, as he pulled out a chair in front of her desk and sat down. "I'm sure Elsword will come say goodbye one last time before then. He'll probably give you a flying tackle and beg for you to come with us."

Elesis rolled her eyes and laughed. "Can't. Duty calls. As the leader of the Red Knights, I have to stay at headquarters."

"You don't have to explain to me. I was an army captain too, once; I get it."

Elesis propped her chin in her hand and looked across at Raven with a bit more interest. So that was how this guy had a huge base of tactical knowledge.

"Really? With what force?"

"The Crow Mercenary Knights. Fourth Division, Cohort Two." Raven shrugged, his metal arm clicking. "I asked around while I was here. They don't exist anymore."

"Not really, but I remember them." Elesis dug back in her memory, through concerns about the force sent to help Hamel and that one giant argument between Vanessa and Penensio. "They were driven to the ground by political infighting after the trial, escape, and execution of a traitor, I think. Don't remember the traitor's name, but he must have had some serious pull, because they all but destroyed themselves. We ended up absorbing what was left into our own ranks."

Raven leaned forward in his seat, bracing his human forearm on his knee, looking at her with an even sharper gaze than usual. "After a traitor was executed, you say? Do you remember the traitor's name?"

Elesis slowly shook her head. "I don't think anyone ever told me, no. Why? Do you think you knew him?"

"I left at about that time, so I might have known him." Raven leaned back again. Elesis wondered if the traitor had been a friend of his.

A couple beats of silence passed. Elesis shuffled a couple of papers into order on her desk.

"Hey, walk with me?"

"Hmm?"

Elesis stood up and stepped out from behind her desk, low heels clicking on the stone floor. "I've been sitting all day. I want to get out of this room, and talking to you will be a bonus."

Raven nodded and rose. "Sounds fair. I've already packed, anyways."

They ended up outside, strolling through the small courtyard in front of the headquarters, talking about anything but the demon invasion.

A fountain adorned with the Velder crest bubbled in the middle of the sidewalk. Elesis hopped up on the ledge, walking around it with perfect balance even in heels.

"Good El, I miss being athletic," she sighed. "Once you advance above captain, most of your day is spent behind a desk. And it sucks."

Raven grunted agreement, leaning against the gatepost to watch her. "I definitely remember all the paperwork. And I was only a captain – I can't imagine the workload you get put under."

"It's not fun." Elesis hopped down, joining Raven at the gateway. They were silent for a few moments, listening to the busy sounds of Velder's capital. It was market day in the square today, so most of the merchants were out and hawking their wares.

"Prauss always had such a nasal voice," Raven suddenly said. "But he somehow manages to sell his accessories fairly well."

"It's because he's the best guy in the city. Grail could probably make better talismans, sure, and Ariel has some pretty exotic stuff, but their prices are really high for most people." Elesis sneezed. "Have you lived your whole life in Velder?"

"Until I nearly died and ended up with this arm, yes. I don't tend to count that, though. Velder has always been my home."

Elesis nodded. More silence.

"I almost wish I could go with you," Elesis eventually said. "I love my work, and I love the Red Knights, but it's been so long since I was in the field."

"Can't imagine why. You're an amazing fighter."

The praise sounded genuine. Elesis took a moment to enjoy the warm glow of pride.

"Thanks."

"You know, if you really wanted to come with us, you could," Raven offered. "I don't expect that you'll leave your duty, but the offer's open."

Elesis shrugged and looked up, seeing the smooth arch of stone over her head. When the Red Knights took over this place, she'd had a phrase inscribed into the gateway.

 _Whither I stay or whither I go, karma and justice follow their true flow._

"I'll have to see what I can do," she replied. "It's getting late, by the way. You should probably go keep little bro on track. I've got to finish my work."

"Good point." Raven pushed himself off the wall, raising a hand in farewell. "Goodbye, then, Elesis Seighart."

"Goodbye, Raven." He hadn't told her his last name.

Elesis watched him walk away, then looked up again.

 _Whither I stay or whither I go_...

When she had started the Red Knights, she thought her journey was over. But what if that was just a resting point?

She turned back inside, humming an old folk tune that Noel often played. Whither she stayed or whither she went, her work still needed to be done.

Imagine the Elgang's surprise when Elesis showed up with Vanessa, carrying Elesis' luggage between themselves, at the docks the next day.

"Sis? What are you doing here?" Elsword called, motioning the crew to hold the gangplank. They did, whispering among themselves. Was the leader of the Red Knights going to ride on their ship?

Elesis shook Vanessa's hand, said a few last cautionary words to her, then took her luggage and ran up the gangplank.

"Temptation got too strong," she called. "I'm coming with you."

After all, she reasoned as Elsword grinned and raced to help her with her bags, it would be stupid to ignore the advice of her own gateway.


	9. Death

**Raven – Blade Master**

 **Elesis – Grand Master**

* * *

They were both very familiar with death. As leaders of fighting forces, they had both trained to kill both humans and demons, and had watched people under their command die as well as watching their enemies die at the points of their weapons.

Never in a million years would they have anticipated _this_ , however.

Elesis' massive claymore fell to the ground as she shook her little brother's shoulders. "Elsword? Elsword!" she screamed, all shreds of dignity and pride lost in wild, desperate grief. The boy only responded with a heaving, rattling breath.

"He's still alive. Quick, call Rena," Raven said urgently, on his knees by Elsword's other side. He fumbled through the pockets of his coat for a healing potion, but came up empty.

"El... Elsa..."

Elsword coughed, something wet and sticky bubbling in his throat. Elesis leaned in close.

"I'm here. You're gonna be okay, got it? Just don't close your eyes. Don't close them, okay?"

Raven twisted around and yelled for Rena, then yelled again, louder.

"Raven... Stop. Not... gonna..."

"Don't say that," Elesis snapped, tears prickling her eyes. "You're going to make it. You're going to be bruised, and Aisha's going to be pissed, but-"

Elsword managed one shake of his head. "Sent Rena... Up..."

And with sinking hearts, they both remembered that a scant two minutes ago, Elsword had ordered both Rena and Aisha up to check for demon scouts. There would be no reaching them until it was too late.

"Rav...en."

"Elsword. I'm here. You're going to be fine, okay?" Raven somehow managed to make his voice smooth and calm.

"Stop ly...ing." Elsword coughed again. Red mist spattered all over Raven's monochrome clothing. "You... Take over."

Raven blinked, then dipped his head. "If that's what you want, Elsword, I will," he said softly, and Elsword managed a curt nod of his head.

"Elsa."

The pool of blood underneath him was slowly getting bigger, seeping into Elesis' armored dress. Elesis blinked back tears.

"Need... glue. Raven can't hold..." Coughing. More bubbling, more red mist, though there were some chunks of blood this time. "Elgang toge...ther wi'out you."

Elesis impatiently dashed away her tears. She didn't want the last view that Elsword had of her to be with watery eyes.

"I understand. I'll do my best."

Elsword's breaths were coming in shallow pants now, each one seeming more labored than the last. There was no more pretending that he was going to live. Elesis carefully leaned down and hugged him, and after a second, Raven placed his human hand on Elsword's forehead.

"Sorry," Elsword gasped, then after one final, gurgling cough, his body heaved and lay lifeless. Crimson eyes, always so vibrant and alive, now stared blankly.

Now Elesis let the tears come, streaming down her face and into Elsword's bloody black vest. She choked on his name again and again, hoping, begging, please, let him be just asleep, let him be alive, please.

She gathered Elsword's body into her arms, not caring that her dress was getting soaked with blood, because it was _his_ blood and it was still warm. But his head lolled back lifelessly, and even though Raven reached out to prop it up with his human hand, they both knew that cold feel of death.

"Elsword," Raven choked out, and he was crying too, tears streaming down his tanned cheeks and running the ridges of his scars. He carefully closed Elsword's eyes, and the ritualistic gesture made them both cry harder.

Elesis lay Elsword back down on the unforgiving stone floor. Raven reached for her, and they collapsed into each other's arms, not daring to look at the lifeless body beside them.


	10. Opportunities

**Raven – Before Base**

 **Elesis – Base**

 _This theme is a continuation of theme 1, which was "Introduction"._

* * *

Raven actually wasn't surprised when the big shots offered Elesis a job.

She was a decent fighter with a semi-decent background, like himself and a lot of other people that Raven knew. And the Crow Mercenaries made it a point to offer a place in their ranks to almost every decent fighter that they came across. Background was just a bonus and a guarantee that you would rise in the ranks.

But, of course, a long and boring interview had to come first. And for some unfathomable reason, whenever an existing member of the Crow Mercenaries was involved, they were dragged along too. Neither Alex or Raven had wanted to do the meeting, so they flipped a coin. Raven was entirely sure that Alex had weighted that coin.

He sat uncomfortably on one of the straight-backed wooden chairs in the conference room. It was just a bit too short for him, which did absolutely nothing for his cramping muscles. There was one particularly bad cramp in his thigh that he was trying to massage out under the table, but he had to be quiet about it, because the veteran commanders really didn't like interruptions in their meetings.

A guy with nappy brown hair (Eric? Carrick? Something like that) leaned forward, tenting his fingers. "And where did a young girl like you learn to fight, Elesis?"

"My father taught me, but I've already learned all I could from him." This was the third time she'd answered this question in five minutes. Raven could see her patience running out. "As I've already said, I'm on a journey to learn more."

"Why would you want to learn more?"

Elesis shrugged and forced a smile. "I guess I'm just a curious girl."

Most of the questions were repetitive and boring. Raven couldn't manage to work out the cramp in his leg.

Finally, someone hit the edge of a deck of papers on the table, tamping them all into an even stack. "All of you, stop," the man to Eric/Carrick's right side said. Raven recognized him as the recruiting officer, though he wasn't entirely sure of the guy's actual name. "This will be the last question, and I want to ask it."

Dead silence. Elesis muttered something that sounded suspiciously like "finally" under her breath.

The recruiting officer took his time in laying the stack of papers down, straightening them like they were precious jewels. Raven would have been willing to bet that they weren't even that important. Most officers were nobles, the kinds of people who liked to make others wait for them. The recruiting officer was no different. For the love of the El, the last question probably wouldn't even be that special. Raven's certainly wasn't.

Finally, he drew breath and spoke.

"Elesis, why do you want to kill people?"

That... was different. A couple of the veteran commanders were raising eyebrows at each other and at the officer. Elesis stayed silent, glaring thoughtfully at the officer. The officer glared back.

"I don't actually like killing people," she said after the officer had blinked and she had won the impromptu staring contest. "If there's any choice at all, I won't kill people. I prefer to teach them a lesson that they won't forget in a hurry. However, since I fight to protect others, I will kill people if I absolutely have to."

Nodding heads around the table. Everyone liked her answer. The officer stood up and extended a hand across the table to Elesis.

"If that's the case, miss Seighart, the Crow Mercenaries would be glad to offer you a job," he said. Raven wondered what type of comrade Elesis would be. There weren't many girls in the Crow Mercenaries, but the ones that made it tended to be fierce women without senses of humor. So what would-

"Denied," Elesis said calmly.

There was absolute silence in the room. Elesis hurried to explain.

"I'm honored that you would offer me a job, but I've got to decline right now. I'm not done with my own journey." Elesis' chair scraped on the floor as she stood up, matching the officer in height. "And if you don't mind, I think I'll go now. I was hoping to make the capital by nightfall. There's a wandering poet named Noel I want to meet."

The room was still quiet. Raven could hear each one of Elesis' footfalls as she picked up her claymore, walked to the door, heaved it open, and exited. Her footsteps faded down the hallway.

"That wasn't what I expected," Eric/Carrick pouted, crossing his arms. Raven shifted in his seat. All the eyes in the room were suddenly glued on him.

Raven gulped. "May I be dismissed?" he asked, and was answered with a general consensus that amounted to "get out of here."

He fled the room and ran after Elesis. Maybe if he was fast, he could catch her before she left the compound.

Elesis was passing the training ground by the time Raven caught up. She paused, looking with surprise at him as he doubled over and panted, bracing his arms on his bent knees.

"Why... did you... turn them down?" he asked when his breathing had slowed enough to allow speech. Elesis shrugged.

"Dunno. Didn't really want to accept, I guess."

"Why would you not accept an offer like that?"

Elesis laughed. "I can't really see myself in that group. It might work out well for you and Alex, but I can't stand stuffy people like that. Their only purpose in life is to climb a social ladder, and they'll do anything, use anyone, to reach that goal. I find that depressing."

She had a point, sure, but Raven didn't think ambition was as bad as she was making it out to be. Still, he tried again.

"You said you wanted to learn, right? You're wasting an opportunity to do it."

"There are different types of opportunities, Raven." Elesis hefted her claymore over her shoulder, admiring it. "I'm not so much looking for tips on how to fight with this. I'm more looking for strategies. Tactics. Ways I can bring my mind to a fight as well as my sword." She sheathed the claymore and glanced at him with a smile.

"You should do the same. I look forward to meeting you again, Raven. You're a strong fighter and you seem like a decent guy."

She walked away before he could even say goodbye. Raven watched her go, turning over what he had just heard.

Strategies. Tactics. You know, that really wasn't a bad idea. Maybe he should start researching them also.

After all, it would be stupid to waste an opportunity to better himself.


	11. 33

**Raven – Veteran Commander**

 **Elesis – Blazing Heart**

* * *

When he woke up, Elesis was standing over him.

A quick check of the clock told him he still had half an hour before Eve got back. Another quick check of the screen showed that the download was at 33%, just like it had been an hour ago.

"Raven? What are you doing here?" Elesis asked in confusion. "I thought you and Elsword were planning to go shopping today."

Elesis had left before breakfast, Raven remembered. She wouldn't know why he was stuck here. So he nodded.

"Yeah, we were. Between you and me, he wanted a present for Aisha and decided to get my advice on it. But Eve scanned my arm and found that the imaging software wasn't working, so she decided to re-install it."

"Imaging software?"

Raven shrugged with his right shoulder. "No clue, but I guess it's important, because she yelled at me when she figured out it wasn't working."

"Well, nobody needs Eve yelling at people." Elesis sat down next to Raven, relaxing into the couch cushions. "Good El, that feels good. I've been on my feet all day." Before Raven could ask what she was doing, she leaned over to glance at the download screen.

"Thirty-three percent. How long have you been here?"

"An hour and a half. Eve said it would only take an hour, but it's been stuck here for almost that long."

Elesis gave a low whistle. "Let me guess – you're not allowed to move."

"You got it." Raven leaned his head back, careful to keep the arm still. "So I've basically been napping on and off."

"That sounds boring," Elesis commented. "You want some company while you wait for Eve?"

"Sure." Raven glanced over at her, a question rising to mind.

"By the way, what was so important that you had to rush out before breakfast? Your little brother makes decent waffles, you know."

"If you call his waffles decent, your taste buds must be dead," Elesis muttered. "I still can't forget the time he managed to set the kitchen on fire while trying to mix cake batter that one time. But anyways, Ryota was holding something for me. I had to pick it up before the shop opened."

"I'm still not sure if Ryota's a guy or a girl, honestly." Raven tried to stretch out his legs without moving his arm. It wasn't an easy task.

"You know, I'm not really sure either," Elesis said thoughtfully. "I mean, they seem like a girl, but I thought Chung was a girl when I first saw him. And it's not like I'm going to go up to Ryota and just ask, 'Hey, are you a guy or a girl?'"

"That would be kind of rude, yes," Raven agreed. "What was Ryota holding for you?"

Elesis' gaze slid away from Raven's. "Nothing important."

Raven didn't pry. He just checked the download screen – still 33% – and then leaned back, sighing.

"I still can't believe that you like Elsword's waffles."

"I've tasted worse," Raven muttered, shuddering as he remembered. "Way worse. One of my comrades once dumped an entire container of salt into waffle batter."

"Did anyone get salty about it?" Elesis laughed at her own pun. Raven just stared at her until she sighed and responded with a kitchen anecdote of her own.

"Elsword managed to set the kitchen on fire while cutting up an apple, once."

"A guy in the Crow Mercenaries tried to get rid of bacon grease by pouring it into the fire. He managed to burn down the commander's tent."

"This asshole in the Red Knights tried to make popcorn over a ceremonial fire."

The stories got more and more outrageous, both Elesis and Raven trying to outdo each other. By the end, Elesis was so deep in laughter that she could barely speak, and even Raven was laughing out loud.

Eve walked in while Elesis was telling a joke about Ariel, Camilla, and Glave walking into a bar. She stared at the scene.

"Raven, why are you still hooked up to the software?" she interrupted, and Elesis stopped in the middle of the punchline.

"The download stopped. It's stuck at thirty-three percent," Raven answered, prompting Eve to walk over and poke the screen. The numbers immediately flickered and jumped upward, hovering at 99% for a moment before the screen flashed an _install complete_ message.

"No, it's not. It just misread the arm. It's rather old technology, you know," Eve commented, detaching Raven. Raven immediately stood up and stretched. The Nasod arm did seem a bit more responsive, he noticed.

"Thanks, Eve."

Eve nodded curtly at him. "You are welcome. Now leave."

Raven glanced at Elesis. "What were you planning to do? Feel like going out again?"

Elesis shook her head and stood up, stretching. "I'm rather tired; I might just go take a nap. But you might want to go and find Elsword. He looked rather lost when he was staring in the window of a jewelry shop."

Raven rolled his eyes, watched Elesis disappear up the stairs, and went out to rescue Elsword from the horrors of shopping. He had no idea that when he returned to his room later, he would find a gift-wrapped box from Ryota's shop on his bed, propping up a card with Elesis' handwriting on it.


	12. Dead Wrong

**Raven – Reckless Fist**

 **Elesis – Blazing Heart**

* * *

A chunk of flaming stone landed at Elsword's feet.

He looked up, seeing more deadly missiles raining from the sky. It took him exactly one point five seconds to realize what was happening.

"Ambush! Take cover!" he yelled, spinning around and motioning his group toward the sides of the canyon. There were a myriad of rocky shelves that they could take cover under.

The entire Elgang broke and ran to escape the fire. Raven and Elesis found themselves under the same shelf, watching as the rocks showered outside.

"Don't they understand that the basic principle of an ambush is surprise?" Raven muttered. "Solace, the demons back in Feita were better coordinated than this."

"Maybe they're just trying to hammer away at our defenses," Elesis suggested, and both of them looked up at the sound of scrabbling rocks. This didn't sound like the flaming missiles from groups of Mag Chargers.

"Elesis, Ara, take the Mag Chargers out!" Elsword called from under his own little rocky ledge. Ara's fluffy white tails waved as she yipped her understanding. Elesis glanced at Raven.

"Cover me," she muttered, and Raven nodded and readied his blade as Elesis stepped out into clear space and raised her left hand, flames gathering and circling around her.

"Blaze Wing!" she shouted. Raven knocked a fiery rock away from her as Ara took off in a Flying Kite.

"They're coming down here!" Eve shouted. Moby and Remy hummed at her sides.

"Form up," Elsword yelled. "Rena, Arelinna?"

The Wind Sneaker summoned a nymph, who cast a blessing over the area. Raven instantly felt his aching muscles ease. His arm twitched. The Arelinna's speed enhancement would help a lot with the difficulties of the confined space.

The sounds of hissing and spitting and clicking metal made Raven and Elesis shoot tense glancs at each other, then watch the newly appeared threat. Demons advanced from both sides, cutting off any escape routes save up the steep canyon walls.

"Looks like we'll have to fight our way out," Lu chirped. Out of the corner of his eye, Raven saw Ciel disappear, like he usually did when Lu was fighting.

One line of the demons charged. Elsword, Elesis, Raven, Add, and Rena stepped up to hold them back.

Raven blocked out the battle cries around him, focusing on the demons and the heat of his arm. He could almost feel the Nasod arm as a presence in his mind. _Kill them all_ , it whispered, and Raven smiled as he raised his blade and launched a slash at the first demon.

 _Happy to oblige._

The four fighters systematically tore through the demons, each person building on the others' attacks. Raven shadow-stepped through a Mag Stone, summoning Nasod javelins and punching it until it fell apart.

Rena ran through the gap with a well-timed Sharp Fall, stunning everything around and giving Elsword a perfect opportunity to sink his sword into the ground and call up a ton of little tiny Conwells. Elesis' fire and Add's drones took care of the stragglers. Raven noted down, then proceeded to ignore, the sounds of the rest of the group fighting back the other line of demons.

A shower of flaming rocks fell from the sky. They all managed to dodge, Raven automatically slapping one away from Elesis with his Nasod arm, and Add aimed and fired a Panzer Buster at the poor Mag Charger that had happened to escape the first attack.

And that was the end of the first wave.

Rhythmic, pounding footsteps from either end told them that it wasn't yet over. Elsword glanced around, seeing how far away they'd gotten from the rest of the group.

"Recover!" he called, and both halves of the Elgang turned and ran back to their original position. Rena sent up another Arelinna. Chung, Eve, Ciel, and Aisha all buffed everyone at the same time to increase their chances.

"Hopefully, they only have two waves planned. It's Mag Stones again, so try and break up their line. Stay back when they've got fire up except for Elesis and Eve."

Elsword talked fast. The entire sequence was delivered in less than ten seconds. The Elgang muttered agreement all around, then stepped forward to fight the advancing lines.

Raven charged up a Wild Charge and let fly, straight into the middle of the Mag Stone line. The rocky monster shuddered, and Raven took the opportunity to summon more Nasod javelins and cut into it.

He heard running footsteps and ducked, making room for Elesis to jump over him with a slash to the demon's face and a follow-up of three fireballs. Raven stepped to the side as she landed on the ground with a blue aura circling around her body.

The Mag Stone rumbled. Raven saw an orange glow seeping out through the cracks of its stony body, felt the searing heat on his face. He wasn't going to go against Elsword's orders for this bit.

With one last look at Elesis, he quickly backpedaled, waiting a good seven feet away with Elsword, Add, and Rena.

Elesis ran to the end of the monsters' line, her clothes smoldering and smoking from the heat. She used Rushing Sword to slash through the line once, twice, three times, more times, until the monsters were all burning with her fire instead of theirs and the Gale aura disappeared in a fizzle of blue sparks. When it did, she paused, lowering her claymore and taking a deep breath in preparation for another skill.

She wasn't expecting one of the Mag Stones to raise a fist and try to smash her. She barely dodged, throwing herself backward and landing hard on the ground.

Raven acted on impulse. "Nuclear!" he called, throwing out his Nasod arm to summon a spear from the sky. The rocky golems were no match for a full-force Nasod nuclear explosion. They were buffeted by the impact, their line broken, and it only took one Violent Attack from Rena to finish them off. Thankfully, there was no backup behind them.

Raven went straight to Elesis. She was on one knee, breathing hard.

"Oy. You okay?" Raven's human hand was occupied with his blade, and he made it a point never to touch Elesis with the Nasod hand, so he gently bumped her with his knee instead.

"Perfectly fine. Just surprised that they dared try and use fire against me." Elesis muttered, pushing herself off the ground and dusting off her coat. "Well, they were dead wrong about _that."_

And knowing Elesis, the pun was totally intended.


	13. Running Away

**Raven – Blade Master**

 **Elesis – Blazing Heart**

* * *

"No luck?"

Raven shook his head, leaning against their daughter's closed door. "None. She still swears she wants to run away."

"And I will, too!" Ruve shouted. Her voice was choked, like she'd been crying.

Elesis wasn't sure what was going on with Ruve. She had come home nearly three hours late from school, endured a scolding from both Elesis and Raven, eaten dinner in relative silence, then suddenly blown up and stormed off when Raven asked a seemingly innocent question about her day. She'd been in her room for at least an hour now.

Raven and Elesis exchanged a glance. Elesis motioned Raven away so that Ruve didn't hear what she had to say.

"She's not going to budge on this," she murmured once they were safely out of range. "We aren't going to be able to reason with an angry seven-year-old."

Raven nodded. "So what do you suggest we do? I'm in favor of leaving her alone to sort herself out, but it's already way past her bedtime."

"Leave her alone and find her gone in an hour? She's got the determination to follow through on any threat she makes, you know that. She gets it from both of us." Elesis made like she was going to chew on her nail for a second, thought better of it, and curled her hand into a fist. "What if we help her pack?"

Raven blinked, then stared down at Elesis. Was she serious? There were no puns, so he couldn't be sure.

"Pardon?"

"It's something Dad did with Els once when he wanted to run away, okay? I don't know how it worked, but they were laughing together by the end of it. It's gotta be worth a shot."

Raven looked back at Ruve's closed door. "It's me she's mad at, so you give it a try. I'll be around the corner if you need backup."

Elesis reached up to kiss Raven's cheek, then walked back to Ruve's room. Raven watched her knock on the door.

"Sweetie, it's me. If you really want to run away, let me give you some packing tips, okay?"

"Go away. Why do you care?" Ruve's voice was muffled. Elesis guessed she was pressing her face into a pillow.

"Because I'm your mother _and_ I lived out of a suitcase for nearly five years." Elesis tried the knob, silently making sure it was unlocked. "I'm coming in, okay?"

Ruve didn't voice a protest as Elesis carefully opened the door and stepped inside. As she had predicted, Ruve was sprawled across her bed with her face in her pillow.

Elesis sat down on the edge of the bed. Ruve shifted to look at her, shaking her dark hair out of her startling crimson eyes.

"You lived out of a suitcase for five years?"

Elesis smiled and nodded. "Did you think your father and I took much with us when we were in the Elgang? We all learned to pack light and travel fast."

Ruve buried her face in her pillow again. "I wanna have adventures like you did. Maybe then the kids would stop laughing at me."

When she heard the last bit, Elesis felt fire rise in her throat. She remembered grade-school teasing. Was her precious daughter getting teased, too?

No, no, shove down the fire, keep it under control. "Well, then, you're going to need the three basics. Clothes, food and water, and someplace to sleep." That and a weapon, Elesis thought privately. Some sort of objective usually helps, too, but she wasn't actually trying to help Ruve run away.

"But we don't have any tents," Ruve said in confusion. Elesis hummed agreement.

"Tents are too bulky to carry easily. So most nights, you sleep out in the open." She raised her voice. "Hey, Raven-"

Raven appeared in the door almost immediately. Ruve glared at him. Elesis wondered how close he'd been lingering this entire time.

"Do you still have your old bedroll?"

Raven's face betrayed no flashes of confusion, which either meant his stoic mask was back up or else he'd been listening to Elesis' conversation with Ruve. "I think so. I know yours got burned a lot, but I believe mine's in our closet. I'll go grab it?"

"Thanks."

Raven walked away. Elesis stood up, dragging an overnight bag from Ruve's closet.

"You usually put your food in a separate bag from your personal items. What clothes would you want to take?" she asked, and was gratified to see Ruve slowly get up, cross to her closet, and pull out her favorite shirt. Elesis caught it when Ruve threw it at her.

"You want to see how to fold it so it doesn't take up much space?"

By the time the bag was half full with Ruve's favorite clothes, Ruve was acting a bit less sulky and Raven was back with the bundle of black blankets. He knocked on the doorframe.

"Ruve, can I come in?"

Ruve looked up and nodded, then went back to rolling up a shirt like Elesis had taught her. Raven entered carefully, ducking to avoid the door's lintel.

"It took me a while to find this. I haven't used it in a long time," he explained, setting down the bedroll next to Ruve. "Do you want me to show you how it works?"

Ruve carefully nestled her shirt inside the bag with her other clothes, then nodded. Raven quickly unsnapped the clasps on the roll with his human hand.

"See, it's basically two blankets rolled together," he explained. "When it's cold out, that's what these clasps are for." He indicated the clasps on the sides of the blankets – four to the long sides, and two on the bottom. "They'll trap your body heat inside and make it sort of like a cocoon."

"I think I only ever used the clasps once," Elesis said thoughtfully. "And that was the time that I managed to burn it up and nearly took Aisha's – Auntie Aisha's, I mean – with me."

Ruve cracked a smile. Normally that would be a giggle, but she seemed to be trying her hardest to hold on to her pout.

"Try it out," Raven urged her, and Ruve slid between the two blankets and did up the clasps.

"It's kind of uncomfortable," she said. Elesis examined her setup.

"That's because you've got the thinner blanket on the bottom. It's supposed to go on top, so the thicker one can act as a barrier between you and the ground."

Ruve wriggled and managed to roll over with a fair amount of difficulty. Then she burrowed down into the black sheets until only the top of her head was resting on the flattish pillow attached to the thicker, longer blanket.

"What's a normal night like? When you were with the Elgang?" she wanted to know, and Raven and Elesis exchanged a glance.

"There would always be a campfire that I started and usually maintained," Elesis reminisced. "And we would spread out our own sleeping areas somewhere around it."

"You girls always slept in that one little cluster. Except for Eve. I don't think Eve ever slept while we were outside."

Elesis thought back, then shook her head. "You're right. She always was patrolling the wards that Auntie Aisha set up."

"What did Uncle Elsword do?" Ruve wanted to know, and Raven shrugged.

"Paced around either fighting with Aunt Aisha or talking with Chung."

Ruve yawned and wriggled to be more comfortable. "Was it fun? Being with the Elgang?"

Raven and Elesis exchanged a wry glance. 'Fun' was not the word either of them would use to describe fighting the demons.

"Some parts of it were," Raven answered eventually. "Other parts weren't, but that's life."

"I wish I could do something like that. Then maybe I wouldn't be so useless compared to everyone else," Ruve muttered, then buried herself deep in her father's old bedroll.

Raven glanced at Elesis with alarm. Elesis was too busy swallowing down her fire to return the glance.

"You're nowhere near useless," she started. Ruve snorted.

"Everyone else is smarter or prettier or funnier or better at magic than I am. All I've got is two famous parents. I can't even summon fire or anything."

"You're a Seighart, Ruve." Elesis leaned down to kiss her daughter's forehead. "Fire runs in our blood. You'll find out how to use your fire eventually. And maybe it won't be magical fire, but that's okay. You'll still be special."

Ruve was silent. Elesis could tell that she didn't believe her.

"Can I keep the bedroll?" Ruve asked quietly, and Raven nodded.

"Of course you can. Do you want us to go now?"

Ruve yawned widely and rolled over. Elesis stood, following her husband out of Ruve's room and gently turning off the light and closing the door behind her.

"I don't think she got it," Raven murmured. Elesis nodded tiredly.

"At least she's not talking about running away now," she responded, and Raven sighed and nodded.

"You're right. That's enough for tonight," he agreed, and Elesis took his hand to lead him to their bedroom so they could cuddle up and chat. Their wedding rings clicked together as Raven squeezed her hand.

Meanwhile, Ruve Seighart lay awake in the night, turning over her mother's advice.


	14. Judgement

**Raven – Reckless Fist**

 **Elesis – Blazing Heart**

* * *

"Guilty."

The flagstone was cold under Raven's knees. Anger burned within him at the unfair judgment, and at the muted whispers and snickers from the watchers, but the crossed spears at his back forced him to stay down and silent.

"As of this moment, you are to be stripped of your title as captain. You will be extracted from the comrades that you betrayed and thrown into prison, where you will await your execution in two days time." The murmurs grew louder as Raven stared at the floor. "Have you anything to say for yourself, Raven?"

A death sentence. Well, for an assumed traitor, it wasn't exactly abnormal. Still, he felt terror rising in him, just like the first time.

"No, sir," he choked out, and was summarily hauled to his feet and shoved out of the courtroom. He could barely keep his balance and see where he was going as the spear ends buffeted him, propelling him down a labyrinth of halls and stairways.

He remembered this place. He remembered what happened next – being thrown into a cold, dark cell and watching Alex close the door. He remembered his comrades coming to get him out, beautiful, determined Seris trying to help him and getting killed for it, all because of the proud ambition of a nobleman.

Just because he knew it was a nightmare didn't make it any less scary.

Ah, yes. The cell. The cold stone floor rushed to meet his face as the guards pushed him inside, not caring if he lost his balance. He winced and scrambled to a kneeling pose, struggling to get up as Alex's face appeared at the door.

"Enjoy your stay, traitor," he said coldly, and the heavy stone door swung shut with a _thud_ that jolted Raven out of sleep.

He glanced around – he was in the room in the Sander inn – and sat up halfway, shaking his head and rubbing his eyes. Nope. Nope. It was gone now, the courtroom with the snickering nobles and the rage burning inside him with no outlet-

"Did I wake you?"

Raven looked up at Elesis' hushed voice. She had one hand on the doorknob, still fully dressed even though it was well past midnight.

"It doesn't matter. What are you doing? I haven't seen you since dinner."

Elesis yawned, kicking off her boots and placing them messily in one corner. Raven guessed from the wobbly way she was walking that she'd been sampling the strong alcohol made in Sander, called arak. Her speech was slightly slurred, too.

"Talking with Emirate about the Trocks. One thing led to another, and I ended up throwing a bottle of arak in his face."

"Please tell me he was too drunk to notice. We need his help."

"What makes you think we got drunk?" Elesis took off her coat, beginning to change into her pajamas. Raven looked away. The Sander inn had only had half the rooms they needed, so the Elgang had doubled up. Raven and Elesis got put together since they were technically dating.

He stared at the wall, listening to the rustling of cloth against skin. The wall was painted a dirty white color, so very different from the walls of the prison.

"Hey, Elesis. Have you ever been court-martialed?"

Elesis hummed in thought, walking over and sliding between the thin sheets on the other side of the bed. "Penensio's threatened it a couple of times, but no. It's rather hard to bring one of the founders of the Red Knights to court." She rolled to face Raven, looking concerned. "Are you thinking about that trial?"

Raven looked away and lay back down. "Nightmare. I was just wondering."

"Well, I _have_ attended some cases," Elesis admitted. "I always feel sorry for the person if they get pronounced guilty. There was only one time that I didn't feel sorry for them, and that was the guy who was sent to kill me in the middle of the night, so..."

"That happened?"

"Long story. I'll tell you when the world doesn't look like I'm seeing it through a wine glass."

The next thing Raven knew, there was a warm weight nestling close to his side, Elesis' head resting on his chest. He raised his arm to wrap it around her, and with horror, realized it was his Nasod arm.

"Elesis, you're on the wrong side!"

Elesis' eyes weren't really focused when she looked up at him. "I trust your judgment. You won't accidentally claw me in your sleep. Now let me rest in peace."

Raven raised no protest this time when she snuggled against him and promptly fell asleep, though he didn't wrap his Nasod arm around her, either. He just stared down at her, wondering how she could trust the judgment of a mess of a person such as himself.


	15. Seeking Solace

**Raven – Reckless Fist**

 **Elesis – Blazing Heart**

* * *

The soft knock at the door made Raven look up from the book he was working his way through. "Who is it?"

"Elesis," came the response, and Raven reached for his bookmark. Why was it that he always got interrupted in the middle of a good part?

"Come in."

Elesis looked unnaturally subdued when she stepped inside, closing the door behind her. Raven immediately marked his place and lay the book on his bedside table. For her not to greet him enthusiastically was very, very odd.

"Elsa? What's wrong?" he asked softly.

Elesis sighed, rubbing her forehead. "Just wondering... Did you notice anything strange about Ignia before today?"

Raven frowned and shook his head. "You mean before she betrayed us? Elesis, she tricked all of us. Even me." Just thinking about it made the familiar anger rise inside him, but by this time, he'd had a lot of practice at putting it aside. "Why do you ask?"

"No reason, I guess. Thanks." Elesis made like she was going to exit the room. Her shoulders were slumped.

"You know, if there's anything on your mind, you can talk to me," Raven offered.

Elesis stopped with her hand on the door. Raven narrowed his eyes as she took a deep breath. What was bothering her so much?

"You won't tell anyone else?"

"Not if you don't want me to," Raven said instantly. He sat up straighter, struggling to do so in spite of the serious burn on his thigh. Damn that Ignia and her fire attacks.

"I keep thinking that there was something. Some sign that Ignia wasn't all that she appeared to be," Elesis confessed. "But I didn't say anything. If I had spoken up, I could have prevented all of this."

"What did you see that made you think she was going to betray us?"

Elesis shrugged helplessly. "I don't _know_. She just felt... wrong somehow. But I keep thinking, if I had spoken up, maybe Rena and Ara wouldn't have nearly died today."

Raven bit down on the inside of his cheek, trying to figure out how to say what Elesis needed to hear. He shifted over on the bed, indicating the spot beside him.

"C'mere."

It took a bit, but Elesis eventually released the doorknob and crossed the room to sit beside Raven. He looped his human arm around her tense shoulders.

"Elsword barely listens to facts as it is. He probably wouldn't have listened to his big sister's gut feeling," he started. "And even if anyone had believed you, Edel definitely wouldn't have."

"But still. If we'd have had even a little suspicion of her-"

"She still would have found a way to betray us."

Elesis' wide-eyed gaze locked on him. It was extremely unusual for Raven to interrupt people. She stayed silent as he continued.

"There will always be traitors, Elsa, and they'll find a way to be traitors no matter what we do. She had us all fooled. Even I thought she was an innocent, naive priestess." Raven put aside the anger again, concentrating on his arm around Elesis' shoulders instead of the metal one that was urging him to punch something. "You don't need to feel guilty. It wasn't your fault."

Elesis curled up a bit, leaning against Raven. "Still. I could have done _something._ "

"I blamed myself for Alex's betrayal for a long time, too, you know. It doesn't get you anywhere." Raven's arm didn't like that topic. He went back to their original subject. "We didn't know Ignia, so we automatically trusted her. We'll know better next time, right?"

Elesis hummed reluctant agreement. "You really think that we couldn't have prevented it?"

"Definitely not. If we hadn't let her come with us, then she would just have found another way. And there was really no reason to be suspicious of her."

Sometime during this, Elesis had completely curled up next to Raven, and now she buried her face in his shoulder. Raven gently kissed the top of her head.

"Being betrayed messes with your head. But you weren't responsible, okay?"

The tenseness was slowly going out of Elesis' body. She nodded slightly.

"Thanks for telling me to stop being stupid."

"Don't call my favorite person 'stupid'." Raven would have smiled, if he were that type of person. "You can always talk to me, you know."

Elesis didn't respond. Raven just tightened his grip on her and kissed the top of her head again, wondering at her choice to seek solace with him.


	16. Excuses

**Raven – Sword Taker**

 **Elesis – Pyro Knight**

* * *

Raven didn't make excuses for himself. He never had. It was in his nature to hold himself to the highest standard possible, and if he fell short, he wanted to know exactly why.

It was why he couldn't accept his current level of sword skill.

He used to be _faster_ with his blade, _smarter, stronger,_ and now he couldn't even do one simple flurry of slashes reliably. Half of the time he made it, sure, but the other half of the time the blade slipped from his hand, or he messed up and twisted his wrist, or the blade would slip precariously close to his face and he would have to stop before he added yet another scar to his collection.

The blade clattered to the floor again. Raven gritted his teeth.

"Damn," he swore quietly, all the frustration of an unsuccessful two hours packed into the word. He bent stiffly to pick up the blade, wishing he could switch hands (he had never been very good with his right hand in the first place) and prepared to attempt the combo again.

Forward. Forward. Forward, raise the blade, cross it over, raise, cross, raise, cross, rinse and repeat, the slashes coming faster every time until Raven lost control, the blade flipping from his hand and landing a good four feet away. Raven's Nasod arm twitched.

What was he doing wrong? He'd studied every single swordsmanship manual he'd been able to get his hands on. He'd dug back in his memory, trying to recall the long days spent training and sparring with _him_ in the Crow Mercenaries' fields until he was almost the best swordsman in the place. Why couldn't he get the skill back?

He stepped forward to pick up his blade again, using his sleeve to wipe sweat from his forehead. He straightened, getting into fighting stance, settling the blade in his palm and focusing his mind on the attack he was about to perform.

The sound of the door opening barely registered in his mind as he began again. Slash, slash, and slash again, going faster and faster until you're just at the verge of control, and then keep the speed there, until the sword wrenched painfully from his hand and twisted his wrist around in the process.

He gasped in pain as his blade clattered to the floor.

"Solace, Raven, how long have you been here?" The voice was female and rather startled. Raven whipped around to see Elesis frowning at him.

"It's two am. Why aren't you in bed?"

"I..." He couldn't answer that without lying. He hated liars.

"How long have you been here?"

Raven felt vaguely uncomfortable under the teenager's piercing scarlet stare. He glanced back at his blade lying on the ground. His wrist still hurt, but he'd had far worse injuries. He'd probably have to fight with worse injuries anyways, so this was fine.

"Raven?"

"I don't know. I came in here at about midnight, so..."

Elesis sighed. Raven turned away to retrieve his blade.

"Why don't you go to bed, Raven? You can train tomorrow, when you're not dead tired," Elesis offered, but Raven shook his head.

"I have to remember how to do this."

"Raven. It is literally two in the morning. We have to fight tomorrow. Let down your pride and get some sleep." Elesis just sounded exasperated now, and quick, slippered footsteps on the stone floor advanced behind him. Raven turned around just in time for Elesis to grab his wrist.

His twisted, human wrist.

Raven hissed in pain. Elesis' expression changed from frustration to concern.

"Did you wrench your wrist? Why didn't you stop training if you're hurt?"

Raven gritted his teeth and looked away. He knew he was being an idiot for wanting to train while he was injured, but that little competitive voice in his mind was whispering that Elesis didn't know what she was talking about, that he was perfectly fine. He'd nearly died, and came through that alive, right? What was this in comparison?"

"Raven? Are you listening to me?" Elesis gently worked the blade from his hand, and Raven dully noticed that she wore her black fire gloves to bed. "Raven?"

"Elesis, please go away. I've got to recover my old skill level," he snapped. "I _used_ to be good, but now I'm soft. I'm relying on the arm too much. I need this practice."

Elesis stared at him. Raven glared back, already regretting his rash words. Fire flared in Elesis' eyes, and she closed them for a moment, seemingly trying to get herself under control.

"You know, you're _way_ too hard on yourself. Everyone screws up. You don't have to beat yourself up for every single little mistake." She opened her eyes, and the fire was still there, but held back. The runes on the backs of her gloves started glowing slightly. "Raven, you're the strongest fighter we've got. Don't injure yourself because you don't know when enough's enough."

"Stop making excuses for me to quit." Raven twisted his arm from Elesis' grasp, ignoring the dart of pain that shot up his forearm, unable to stop spitting the harsh words. "If I can't reliably execute a single move, I'm useless. Worse than that. I'm dragging down the team. I can't let myself do that. Now please, just let me be!"

He turned away, raising his blade again. Elesis actually growled.

"You idiot!"

The outburst reminded him, strangely, of her little brother. Raven paused and looked back at the irate girl.

"Can't you see it'll just hurt us more if you train yourself to the point of exhaustion? What do you think will happen if you collapse in the middle of battle? We can't _carry_ you, that's certain enough. None of us are strong enough to carry two hundred pounds of metal and muscle while fighting. Or if you can't even fight? All of our fighting strategies depend on you, Raven. Every. Single. One. Of. Them. How do you think the rest of the team will react if you can't fight?" The runes on Elesis' gloves were glowing brightly now with the power required to keep her fire under control. "They'll be just as fired up as I am, because you made all these foolish excuses to keep training well past your limits!"

Excuses?

Were they excuses?

Raven stared at Elesis, her cheeks flushed, her chest heaving, the runed gloves gleaming eerily. Was what she said true? Was he just making excuses to train? He needed the practice, though. In the past, he could have dispatched all of these glitter demons with ease. He needed that skill back. He needed his strength.

But what if Elesis was right?

"Come on," Elesis said softly, holding out her hand. "Give me the blade and, for the love of El, go the fuck to sleep."

When he hesitated, she pressed further. "You really don't have to be so hard on yourself, Raven. You'll perform better if you're rested. Then you can actually see what you're doing wrong and try to correct it."

Raven bit his lip, silently grabbed the sharp end of the blade with his Nasod claw, and held it out hilt-first to Elesis. She took it.

"Thanks," she said softly. "Now please. Go to bed."

Raven didn't look at her as he walked out of the training room. It was only when he had his hand on the door and one foot in the hallway outside that he paused and said something.

"Thanks." And then he was gone, leaving Elesis to get her fire under control and wonder just why Raven insisted on pushing himself to the furthest reaches of his limits.


	17. Vengeance

**Raven – Reckless Fist**

 **Elesis – Blazing Heart**

* * *

"And we need a headache potion for Aisha. She's been getting migraines."

Grail sipped at his coffee and grumbled. "How much mana has she been putting out?"

Elesis and Raven glanced at each other, each checking to see if the other knew. Grail grumbled some more as he set down his coffee, climbed off his stool, and went to rummage in his tent.

"Is this the last stop?" Raven asked Elesis in a low voice. Elesis checked her list.

"Almost. We just need to pick up that new 'metal bow' that Hanna wanted Rena to try out, and then we can go back."

Raven nodded. Elesis stuffed the list back into her coat pocket and shifted her weight, sighing. They had been out for three hours already, working their way through the extensive shopping list. The chore had originally been assigned to Raven, but Elesis had volunteered to come along on the basis that Raven hadn't been in the Velder capital for a long time. Really, she just wanted to spend time with the guy, but the sun was beating down on her and the cawing of the crows was getting a bit raucous. Why was Velder always so hot?

Grail trotted out of his tent with a bottle carefully held in his little doggy mouth. He climbed back up his stool and set it down, standing straight and picking up his mug.

"Tell her to lay off the magic for at least an hour after she drinks this," he told them as Elesis slipped it into the bag with the rest of their items. "It doesn't go so well with magic. And with that, your total comes to three hundred ED."

Raven paid from the Elgang's group funds and the two fighters walked away, starting in on the last of their errands.

Hanna wasn't outside her shop, for once, so Raven pushed open the door. A bell rang to announce their presence.

Hanna looked up from where she was helping a customer choose from a selection of spears. She smiled at Elesis and Raven, motioned for them to wait, and then went back to her customer.

Raven snorted quietly at a display of gilded swords, ignoring Hanna's cat licking its paw on top of the display. He leaned down to Elesis and muttered, "How many of those do you think someone can actually fight with?"

Elesis took one look at the glittering shelves and bit her lip to stop herself from laughing out loud. "Usually Hanna's pretty good at combining functionality with beauty, but those look like they'd break the first time one of us tried to stab a demon."

"Self-destructing weapons? That would be helpful... if they were in the demons' hands."

Elesis giggled. Hanna finished up with her customer and came over to them.

"Sorry about that. I've got the bow in the back, let me go grab it. If you could just have Rena try this out, see if she can shoot with it?"

"We'll give it to her," Elesis said, and Hanna smiled and disappeared into the store's back room.

The bell dinged. Raven was too immersed in the silly gilded weapons to look up, but Elesis examined the pale man that stepped inside. It was a bit of a study in contrasts. He walked with the prowl of a seasoned fighter, but his blue eyes, unlined face, and white hair told a story of wealth and high breeding. He wore what looked like crow feathers braided into his hair. Perhaps he was a noble's bastard son? They were usually forced into one of Velder's various fighting groups.

"Here you go," Hanna said, and Elesis looked away from the man and took the metal bow from Hanna. It was oddly light in her hands.

"Thanks so much," Hanna continued. "She can take it back here herself if she doesn't like it. I just need feedback."

"Will do," Elesis chirped, and Hanna ran to help the new customer. Elesis poked Raven on the arm.

"You want to carry the bow? I'm not sure-"

"I'm looking for a new fighting knife," said the new customer, cutting neatly through Elesis' words. Raven's body suddenly tensed. He jerked his head up, Nasod arm twitching at the man's smooth voice.

"You!"

The white-haired customer looked over, staring at Raven blankly for a moment. Then a look of pure horror dawned on his face.

"You're supposed to be dead!"

Raven took one threatening step toward the man, who immediately spun around and ran, recklessly shoving open Hanna's door in an effort to get away. That was surprising, but even more surprising was when Raven gave chase, dodging around Elesis and narrowly avoiding the wildly swinging door.

"What's going on?" Hanna asked. Elesis shook her head.

"No idea. Watch this for a bit, could you?" She set down the grocery bag without waiting for Hanna's approval and dashed out, racing after Raven and the white-haired noble.

It was easy enough to see where they had gone. The crowd of people was broken in half, all staring in the same direction and murmuring excitedly. Elesis just followed the stares at a full sprint.

Who could that have been? Who did Raven know in Velder? All his friends were dead, to her knowledge, except for one...

Except for one.

And he wasn't exactly a friend.

She quickened her pace as she caught a glimpse of Raven disappearing around the corner of a side street, hoping to the dear El that she was wrong about who the fleeing man might be.

The dear El either wasn't listening or didn't give a crap, because when Elesis skidded to a stop at the mouth of a dead end alleyway, she was just in time to hear Raven spit one hate-filled word.

"Alex."

A knife flashed in Alex's hand, the blade pointed toward Raven.

"You were supposed to be dead. How didn't you die?" His voice shook. "I heard there was a man named Raven with the El Search Party, but..."

"You killed Calum, Alex. And Miran, and Ashton, and even Seris." Raven's voice cracked. His Nasod fingers curled into a fist that crackled with fire. "Your damn ambition started all of this; now take responsibility for it!"

Elesis shut her eyes as Raven charged. She didn't need to see to know what was happening. Metal clattered to the alley floor – the knife, falling from Alex's hand, and then the horribly familiar scent of burned flesh as Raven's metal fist hit Alex again and again and again in a deadly and brutal attack. Alex only cried out once, and it was quickly silenced in a choking gurgle of blood.

Finally, one last impact, the scent of burning skin growing nauseatingly strong, and Elesis heard a limp body hit a wall with an insane amount of force. Elesis opened her eyes to see an almost unrecognizable body crumple to the ground, singed and smoking and broken (not bleeding – all the wounds had been automatically cauterized by Raven's flaming attack) and looking less like a human and more like a piece of charred meat wearing a uniform.

A crow feather from Alex's hair, somehow unscathed, floated to rest on the ground beside him. Elesis couldn't breathe. Had Raven... Had Raven really just murdered Alex so brutally?

But then again, from Raven's description of his crimes, Alex had deserved it. Her sense of justice was wildly swaying between condemning Raven and applauding him (though she wasn't sure about his methods), but it was inclined to favor Raven.

 _Inhale. Exhale. Deal with the situation._

"Raven?" Elesis tried, noticing his heaving chest and shoulders. The Nasod arm still was curled into a fist, crackling and sparking with lightning. "Raven, it's alright."

He simply stared at the corpse, panting heavily, and didn't respond to her. Elesis stepped forward, crossing the distance between them to put her hand on his human shoulder.

"He's dead. The people he's killed have been avenged."

"They have," Raven whispered. He flexed his Nasod fingers, and Elesis realized with a chill that he was _grinning_. Raven _never_ grinned, especially not like that, with brutal cruelty shining in his amber eyes.

He stared at Alex's body for another moment before walking up to it and kicking the limp form harshly in the side. Alex, being now thoroughly dead, made no response except to flop limply to one side.

Elesis couldn't quite make out what he muttered next, but it must have had some special meaning to him, because he abruptly spun away from the smoking guy and stalked back toward Elesis. "Come on. Hanna will be wondering where we are," he said gruffly, and Elesis bit her lip and shook her head.

"You need to calm down first. I know a spot where nobody comes. Follow me."

Raven paused, then nodded, some of his normal sanity and sense slowly returning.

They walked together to the end of the alley, where Elesis paused and looked back at the body lying abandoned.

 _He nearly killed Raven. He started the cycle of torture_ , she reminded herself.

A bolt of fire flew from her fingers, aimed for Alex's corpse. She then turned away to catch up with Raven, walking beside him as the crows cawed and the sun beat down over Velder.


	18. Love

**Raven – Veteran Commander**

 **Elesis – Blazing Heart**

* * *

For some people, love was kissing and cuddling and going on dates. For some people, love was just a word, and for others, it was the feeling you got when you saw someone and there were butterflies in your stomach and no words on your tongue and heat flooding your body.

But for them it was different.

For them, love was debating battle strategies and tactics, each attempting to make the other concede to their side and each determined not to concede to the other.

For them, love was keeping an eye on each other in battle, unhesitatingly and unfailingly coming to the other's rescue if needed.

For them, love was her checking to make sure he had enough health potions, and him never getting frustrated with her worrying, because they each knew the dangers of Overheat.

For them, love was a ritual pun, where he would tell her not to "let that blazing heart be stolen" and she would grin and reassure him that her heart was already "already commanded by a veteran commander".

For them, love was constant stress, every day waking up and wondering if today would be the day that they – or the other – would die.

For them, love was sparring late at night, and when one was pinned to the wall with a metal claw or cool blade or heavy claymore pressed against their throat, the weapon would drop and the victor would lean in to press the loser to the wall and kiss them.

For them, love was waking up from a nightmare and knowing that there was someone next door or across the hall or just a few short steps away from their own bedroll that would willingly wake up to comfort them, and knowing that they would do the same for the other.

For them, love was his tolerance of her bad puns, and her patience for his silences and hidden feelings.

For them, love was facing enemies side by side, their hearts in their throats and their fire mingling together in the adrenaline rush of the fight.

For them, love was staying by each other's side and taking over their duties when they were injured.

For them, love was his proposal, when he took her to a maze of ruins far outside Lanox and when they had climbed to the top he knelt before her, promising that he would love and cherish her forever and asking if she would stay by his side for the rest of their lives, both of them fully aware that those lives might be shortened at any moment.

For them, love was the matching black couple's rings made fireproof by the blacksmith Steel, hers on her left hand and his on his right, prompting them never to give up because what would the other do without them?

For them, love was him being second to her side (right after her little brother) when the El Lady possessed her and she passed, out, and him staying right beside her for three entire days until she regained consciousness.

For them, love was the feeling of bone-numbing exhaustion after a hard day and being able to collapse into each other's arms, secure in the knowledge that at least one other person knew what they were going through.

For them, love was the exuberance after the final battle, almost crying with joy because they were alive, their comrades were alive, Elrios had been saved from utter destruction, and he actually swept her up in his blood-stained arms and kissed her.

For them, love was dozens of small touches and little glances, each leaning on the other for support during the whirlwind after the war.

For them, love was a house in the Velder Capital, a short walk away from the Red Knights' compound where they both now worked (along with her little brother), and him showing his romantic side by scooping her up in his arms to cross the threshold for the first time.

For them, love was the film of tears over both scarlet and amber eyes as they said their vows at an altar in Ruben because honestly, neither of them thought this dream would ever become a reality.

For them, love was laughing together as the best man, who was his best friend and her little brother, tripped over the maid of honor while they were dancing and ended up face-first in a duck pond.

For them, love was bouncing strategies and tactics off one another where they had argued and debated them before, each seeking the other's opinion as being just as valid as their own.

For them, love was him carrying her home under the Velder stars because she had fallen asleep at her desk _again_ and he didn't want to wake her up.

For them, love was her whisking away his tactical maps at two AM and kissing him on the forehead and muttering something in the general vicinity of "come to bed _right now_ or I will burn your hair off".

For them, love was his panic when he was pacing outside the room in which she was giving birth, because it reminded him too much of waiting for Pesop's judgment after she had been possessed by the El Lady, and women could die in childbirth, dammit!

For them, love was her reminding him to put on a coat before he went out into a storm.

For them, love was him cleaning and polishing her claymore as a surprise so that she would come back to a formerly bloody sword, now pristine, lying innocently across their bed.

For them, love was growing old together, something they never thought they'd be able to do when they were in the El Search Party, both still formidable fighters until the end of their lives.

For them, love was fierce and protective, but also warm and caring, and the bond between them was fueled by empathy and trust and faith in each other.

And Raven and Elesis wouldn't want it any other way.


	19. Tears

**Raven – Blade Master**

 **Elesis – Grand Master**

* * *

"I don't think I've ever seen you cry."

Raven glared at Elesis as much as he could with streaming eyes. "I have tear ducts, you know. Just like everyone else here."

"What, the Nasods didn't remove them like they removed your sense of humor?" Elesis's face was wet with tears too as they ran through the choking smoke, trying to clear out of the burning building as fast as possible. "Curses on these Kenaz!"

Raven ducked a bolt of fire from one of the spirits, melting into the shadows to sprint forward and stab it through the heart. He was well away by the time it exploded. "C'mon!"

Elesis decapitated a Kenaz with a swing of her huge claymore, causing head and body to fly apart. Both exploded. The head set another portion of the building on fire.

"Exit's over here," she called, and Raven made his way through the thick smoke, waving his Nasod arm to try and clear it a bit, until he reached her side. Then they sprinted again, heat assaulting them both, until they were outside in the relatively cool air.

Elesis heaved a deep breath. Raven felt smoke tickling his lungs and started coughing, leaning over and bracing himself against one of the not-burnt walls. Ouch. Since half of his body was made of metal (and Eve was going to be mad at him later when she did repairs on his arm), the heat was worse for him than it was for possibly anyone else in the Elgang.

"You okay?" Elesis rasped. Raven nodded, still coughing.

"Your dress is on fire."

Elesis made a face and stamped out the flames. Her armored dress had already been rather singed and powdered gray by ash and soot.

"There's still a bunch more buildings to clear. We've got to make sure everyone's out."

Raven nodded again and straightened up. His throat felt like it was on fire from breathing smoke, and he coughed once more. "Lead the way, Grand Master."

Elesis rolled her eyes at him and darted away. He followed quickly, ducking under the flaming lintel of yet another burning building. The smoke was a bit thinner here, not as acrid, but Raven's eyes still watered pretty quickly as they ran down the entry hall, keeping as low to the ground as possible.

The hall split into two sections. Raven and Elesis paused, both of them sinking down to crouch below the smoke line, glancing at each other.

"I'll take the left. You take the right," Raven suggested, and Elesis nodded, coughing and wiping her streaming eyes.

"Deal."

They split up, and Raven rushed down his chosen hall, opening all the doors to make sure that nobody was inside. The search wasn't in vain. In the last room, a woman and her child huddled in the corner, watching a rouge Kenaz drift toward them.

"Berserker Blade!" Raven's shout was raspy, but his blade was quicksilver in his hand as he slashed down thrice. The Kenaz wailed and exploded, covering him head to toe with soot. That was fine. He wasn't exactly clean in the first place.

"Come on. It's not safe here," he told the woman and her child, looking around for a way out other than the long hallway. The woman clutched her son and stared at Raven, not saying anything. _Maybe shock?_ Raven guessed.

His searching gaze landed on a weak point in the flaming wall. Raven steeled himself for the heat and used his Nasod hand to punch through the weakened boards, dropping to the ground and rolling aside as the new air brought a gust of flame and thick smoke up and out. The stone floor was hot under his back. He rolled again, keeping hold of his blade, and stretched his hand out to the trapped people.

"Come on!" he shouted hoarsely, and the woman unfroze herself long enough to hold her son out to Raven. Raven sighed. This was going to be difficult, wasn't it?

"Get on my back," he told the kid, getting to a crouch and then and staying still. He felt a pair of tiny arms latch around his neck and a weight settle on his back. _At least the kid's light,_ he thought as he looked back at the mother.

"Please follow me closely, ma'am. I'm going to get you out of here," he told her, and the woman nodded and scrambled after Raven as he stepped out of the hole in the wall.

The heat was intense even on the other side. Raven almost couldn't see anything through his watery eyes. But he blinked it away and made his way through the flaming ruins, checking every so often to make sure the woman was right behind him. She was, coughing and stumbling with her hair smoldering.

Raven had to punch through an outside wall, too, standing aside for the gout of flame before bursting out of the house and into the street outside. There was a demon assassin there to greet them. Raven quickly cut him down before kneeling to set the kid on the street.

"You're okay now," he told the two, then turned his head away to cough up smoke. "Go down that street, okay? There's a refugee camp there. They'll help you."

The woman nodded, her ash-streaked face blank. Raven hoped that she would get there. Then the kid spoke up.

"Mister, your coat's on fire!"

It was? He was? Oh, damn, it was. Raven muttered a curse and dropped his blade, quickly extracting himself from the burning coat and dropping it in the street. It was beyond salvation already, and besides, he was cooler in his sleeveless vest.

Damn, though, he'd liked that coat.

"Thanks. You heard what I said?"

The kid nodded and took his mother's hand. "Mom, c'mon. We've gotta go," he said, seeming not at all bothered by the roaring flames and nightmarish Kenaz cries around them. The woman looked down and nodded, letting herself be led off by her son.

Raven picked up his blade, leaving his coat, and went to find Elesis.

He found her in their original street, fighting off a force of demons led by a glitter commander. Raven broke into a run and jumped into the air.

"Wolf Fang!" he yelled, and when his Nasod claw hit the commander, he used the force to perform a backflip and slice the commander in two. The other demons fled without a leader.

"Thanks," Elesis panted. Her sclera were almost as red as her irises and her entire face was wet with tears. "You lost your coat."

"I _burned_ my coat." Raven turned aside to cough again. His throat felt like someone had packed an explosive charge inside and detonated it. "We've got more houses to search."

Elesis nodded. It seemed like she was examining what his body looked like without the coat, and Raven wondered if this was really the time for that. "Lead the way, Blade Master."

Now it was Raven's turn to roll his eyes and dart away, hearing Elesis follow him at a run. The next thing he heard was a collapsing building and a woman's scream.

A _familiar_ woman's scream.

He whirled around, seeing Elesis pinned motionless under the collapsed flaming beams, and suddenly, the tears falling from his eyes weren't just from the smoke.


	20. My Inspiration

**Raven – Veteran Commander**

 **Elesis – Blazing Heart**

* * *

"You're going to fall."

"No I'm not." Elesis climbed one rung higher on the ladder, teetering precariously as she reached for that one book that remained just out of reach. Her fingers could barely graze the spine.

"How about you let me do it?"

"You only have one arm that can grab things with any efficiency."

She was right, and Raven had long since learned to concede a point with grace. The Nasods hadn't exactly made his fingers delicate in any way, shape, or form. But watching Elesis risk her neck to grab a book from Hamel's library shelves made him worry. She had to be at least fifteen feet up.

"Got it!" she chirped, lunging for the book and managing to pull it out in one jerk. The sudden movement was too much for her ladder, though. Elesis yelped as the ladder tipped, losing her balance and falling.

Raven dropped everything. Literally. His pen and drawing pad both clattered to the floor as he bolted from sitting to sprinting, racing time to intercept Elesis. Years upon years of predicting angles and velocity led him to a point just a couple centimeters away, and he quickly adjusted his position just in time for her to land heavily in his outstretched arms.

His knees buckled momentarily from the force. Thank the El that he didn't have any spikes on the inside of his Nasod Arm...

"You okay?"

Elesis took a moment to respond. The book clattered to the floor beside them. The ladder itself had gotten caught on another book, jutting out from the neat shelves.

"Yeah." Elesis looked rather shaken. "I didn't think that would happen."

"I told you so."

"Shut up." Elesis took a deep breath, flashed a grin at Raven, and then angled herself to kiss him briefly. "You were right; I'll admit."

Raven resisted the urge to lick his lips. "You think?" he snorted as he let Elesis down from his arms. His heart was still beating hard from the sudden fall. She could have died, he realized, or broken a bone and been unable to fight.

Elesis put one hand on the wall-covering bookshelf to steady herself, then bent and picked up the troublesome book. "Well, at least I got this," she murmured, glancing at Raven.

"Was it worth it?"

"It's written by one of Hamel's greatest mages, Vincent Laurelia, so I hope so." Elesis flipped to a random page, scanned a paragraph, then snapped it shut and walked to the chair she'd been previously occupying. "Besides, even if it turns out to be trash, I'm still going to read something I risked my neck for."

Raven grunted agreement and walked back to his place, too, picking up his drawing pad and setting it on the cushioned chair before beginning a hunt for his dropped pen. It had rolled away somewhere. Maybe Aisha was messing with him and had gotten it to drop into a pocket dimension...? It wouldn't be the first time.

"You know how to draw?"

Elesis' question came when Raven was crawling under a table. He looked back at her and sort of shrugged as best he could.

"I was better with my left hand, but I'm trying to get it back with my right." Because of course Alex had ruined his dominant left hand. Just to be inconvenient.

The pen was half-hidden in a shadow under the desk. Raven snatched it and backed out from under the table, still managing to bang his head when he got up. His eyes watered from the short, sharp pain.

"What're you drawing?"

In response, Raven picked up the pad and laid it on the arm of Elesis' chair, rubbing the back of his head. Elesis set down her book to look at it.

"A person?"

Raven didn't answer yet, watching her eyes narrow as she looked closer.

"Hang on. Is it me?"

"Yeah." Raven sat down, holding his hand out for the pad. Elesis gave it back to him after one last incredulous look at it. "You're the most interesting thing I can draw."

Elesis' blush dusted her cheeks the same color as her eyes. Raven decided to push further.

"We could even go further and say you're my inspiration."

"Where did you learn to throw compliments around?" Elesis was _really_ blushing now.

"Do you dislike it?"

"Eh..." Elesis looked away and scratched the back of her neck. "Well, every girl likes being complimented..."

"Then don't complain, my inspiration." Raven tucked his legs up under him and carefully put his pen to paper as Elesis groaned.

"Don't ever call me that again."

"Yeah, it does sound a bit weird," Raven readily agreed, looking up to draw the delicate curves of Elesis' hands. Those hands were tight around the book again, Elesis sprawled over her chair and sinking deeper into the words in front of her. Raven took a moment to savor the sight before attempting again to draw it.

After all, it wasn't as if he'd been lying about the inspiration thing.


	21. Never Again

**Raven – Veteran Commander**

 **Elesis – Blazing Heart**

* * *

Damn. It felt like his ribs were cracked.

He gave himself his standard two seconds to catch his breath, then inhaled deeply and flipped away from Kelaino's knives. One stabbed into the ground right where his face had been and he shivered, realizing that could have been the end of him.

"You okay, Raven?" Elsword yelled from where he was perched on top of a platform, eyes slitted against the wind. Raven had to shout over the screeching wind to confirm that yes, he was fine.

"Ancient Fire!"

A burst of heat and light made Raven look away. The roaring of Elesis' fire drowned out even the noise of the wind, light glinting off the random piles of gold and jewels strewn about the cave. Kelaino shrieked and flailed in the middle of the pillar of fire.

The flames died down. Elesis pulled her sword out of the ground. Kelaino took off, struggling into the air with her singed feathers, laboring toward the platform which Elsword was standing on.

Raven ran over to Elesis. She waved him off before he even said anything.

"I'm fine. It's going according to plan so far," she panted. Raven nodded.

"Don't get distracted by the wind attacks. The most important thing is to grasp the movement of the attacks after the wind," he reminded her, and Elesis nodded back.

"I know."

The wind stirred up as Kelaino hovered over Elsword, spiraling and spreading her wings. Giant spears materialized in the air. Raven and Elesis darted to the one spot where there wasn't a spear, constantly fighting the wind to stay in place.

 _Three, two, one..._

The spears dropped, thudding into the ground. Elsword's yell was louder than that.

"Shining Rune Buster!"

Kelaino squawked. Gigantic, glowing runes formed up around Elsword, blazing in all their deadly glory.

Raven shielded his eyes before the runes imploded and sent yet more bits of reflected light dancing on the cave walls. If Rena was correct about harpies, that should have made barbecue out of Kelaino.

But then what was that enraged harpy scream?

(The sound of everything going wrong, that's what.)

Kelaino soared up, screeching in agony. Many of her feathers were on fire or just plain burnt up, but she still managed to writhe and struggle into the air.

One of her giant flaming wings knocked Elsword off his platform. He screamed as the wind caught him up, tossing him like a rag doll to hit the cave wall and slide down limply. Raven watched in horror as he landed on the dirt.

"Elsword!" Elesis choked out, and she started running against the wind to get to Elsword. Raven followed at a dead sprint. Please no, please let him be alive...

Their young leader was unmoving, a smear of blood on a rock where his head had landed. Raven stared down at him, blinking back the memories. This was how his comrade Miran had looked when he was dying...

"He's breathing. Els!" Elesis sounded frantic as she put one hand on Elsword's shoulder, shaking him gently. Raven fumbled in the canisters at his belt for one of the nasty-tasting healing potions that Pesop had made for them.

And then then the wind hit them both forcefully from behind.

Raven managed to brace himself in time, but Elesis was far lighter than him. The wind picked her up almost spitefully, slamming her against the cave wall with a _crunch_ before dropping her to collapse on top of Elsword.

The flash of deja vu was uncomfortably strong. This was how Seris had looked, collapsed on top of Miran...

But no, Elesis wasn't fatally injured. Her eyelids fluttered. "Rav-"

A harpy squawked from behind him.

Raven snatched up his blade, stood, and turned in one movement, watching Kelaino flutter to the ground and raise her fiery wings. One more blast would send him tumbling and let her kill them all, and Raven couldn't do anything about it.

 _No._

 _Never again._

That's what he had promised himself as he lay dying, the shadowy figure bending over him to offer power and revenge. Never again would he be helpless. Never again would he be unable to protect those he cared about. Never again would he be defeated, so long as he had strength in his limbs and blood running through his veins.

His Nasod arm hummed with life. He glared at Kelaino, feeling powerful rage rush through his body, encouraging it, _welcoming_ it.

Later, Elesis would tell him that he shouted two words. He thought it was just a wordless cry of rage toward the thing that had nearly taken his comrade and his love away _again_.

A flock of burning crows formed up above his head, then dive-bombed Kelaino, forcing her to stagger back with a cry. Raven's anger burned hot, fueling the fire in his arm as he punched forward, connecting with Kelaino's plumage and locking her in place somehow.

Then the fire exploded.

Flames whirled around him, scorching his uniform and buffeting Kelaino mercilessly. Her agonized scream was wonderful. He reveled in the power, the rage, because he wasn't helpless this time and he could save the ones he cared about.

The fire shut off. It was easy for the wind to disperse it and for Kelaino to fall to the ground in a stunning imitation of fried chicken.

"Raven..."

His eyes, Elesis told him that night, were scary as he looked over at her. Filled with fierce fire and protectiveness, and she had feared for a moment that he was going to turn on them.

Then the look died. Raven turned away from the harpy, sprinting over to where Elesis was already trying to get off of Elsword.

"Burning Buster," she whispered, repeating the words she had heard just before the flaming conflagration. "Raven, what..."

"Never again," Raven murmured, and a flash of understanding crossed Elesis' face right before she collapsed painfully into his arms.


	22. Summer

**Raven – Veteran Commander**

 **Elesis – Blazing Heart**

* * *

Elesis was used to heat. Velder's summers weren't exactly known for their cool temperatures, and having fire running through her veins had raised her own body temperature by at least ten degrees. She didn't get overwhelmed by heat easily.

However, running around a hot springs in the middle of summer while trying to use her fire in the wet, muggy air?

Curses on Lanox, because Elesis was finding out what it felt like to sweat. And it wasn't good.

She hung back, stripping off her sweat-soaked coat and shoving it into the dimensional pocket that Aisha had created for all of them to carry stuff in. She could clean it later. For now, she sighed and continued running, the muggy air settling heavily on the bare skin of her arms.

A mermaid challenged her. She burned it to a crisp and kept running to catch up with the rest of the Elgang, all of whom seemed to be just as tired from the heat as she was.

Raven was engaged in a slashing battle with another mermaid. Elesis threw a blast of fire at it, stunning it for long enough so that Raven could stab it and leap back before it exploded.

"Thanks," he panted, and Elesis managed a nod back. Raven's long hair was soaked with sweat. He had taken off his own jacket and shoved it into the dimensional pocket, but his long pants and black shirt were clinging to his body.

"I'm starting to hate summer. And heat. And water," Elesis groaned. Raven grunted agreement.

"Come on!" Elsword yelled from up ahead, trying to figure out how to work a transportation device that Steel had built for them. Elesis launched herself forward in a heavy run, feeling like the very air was fighting against her and trying to keep her back. She hadn't felt this exhausted in years, and something told her it wasn't going to get better.

Guess what? It didn't get better.

Every single platform, every single river, just seemed to try and hold Elesis back. She pressed on, feeling like there was water being drawn into her lungs instead of air, her claymore five times heavier than usual when she lifted it to cut down enemies.

Raven's arm didn't seem to like the wet air. It groaned every time he tried to move it, and eventually Eve told him to stop trying and rely on his blade.

"I'll fix it when we get back. Moisture is not good for Nasods," she called across to him, and indeed the wet air was condensing on Eve's metal body and making it look like she was sweating. Her movements were sluggish, and she was almost too slow to defend against a simple attack. If it wasn't for a quick bullet from Chung's Silver Shooters, Eve would have been injured.

Finally, after a grueling trial in which they had to fight knee-deep in heated water, Rena shouted a warning.

"Demons ahead!"

Elsword waded out of the water, shook out his pants legs, and took a look around. Chung looked like he was about to collapse. Eve was standing on a rock in the middle of the water, dripping with condensation. Ara looked only a bit tired, Lu had just sort of given up and flopped down in the middle of the river, Aisha seemed to be seriously contemplating joining Lu, Elesis and Raven were leaning on each other for support, there was sweat dripping from Rena's pointy ears and a nasty gash in her side, and Add was nowhere in sight.

A howl of pain made everyone look up. A giant, crowned mermaid rose from a shell throne, clutching her head and writhing in pain.

"Don't tell me we have to fight that," Elesis panted, clambering up on the ledge next to Elsword. Raven followed as the mermaid screamed, let go of her head, and looked at the Elgang with murder in her eyes.

"It seems we have to fight that," Elsword said. Elesis didn't have the energy to reprimand him for the string of curses he let loose immediately afterwards.

"Ara, Elesis, Raven, come with me. Chung, get that armor off. Eve, try not to move. Lu, switch out with Ciel and come with us if you can. Aisha, Rena, try and find Add, if it's at all possible."

The mermaid screamed again. Elesis hefted her sword. Raven's arm clicked. Ara let Eun take her over.

"Alright, let's go."

Ara/Eun started the battle with a Flying Kite. The mermaid didn't seem to even be scratched by the end of it, making the Elgang fall back and confer quickly.

"Surround the thing," Elsword finally decided, and they split up again, each person taking one side and trying to injure the mermaid as much as possible. Elesis' arms felt like they were turning to jelly.

Ara/Eun jumped up in the air, flipping and twisting, then came down and smacked the mermaid with a force that made a crater in the ground. The mermaid promptly disappeared.

"What the..." Elsword muttered, looking around. Elesis saw a flash of pink light at the shell throne, glanced over, and pointed out the giant mermaid settling herself back on her throne.

"Is she giving up?" Ara/Eun yipped. Then she paused, shaking her head. "No. She's not."

"It's like Avalanche!" Raven yelled, just before the mermaid gestured with her trident. The ground rumbled, glowed, and exploded in four powerful geysers.

Elesis hit the ground a good five feet away, winded, struggling to get her breath back and _get up get up get up_. She couldn't just lie here. Where was her claymore? Why was there no familiar, comforting burn of fire in her veins?

Raven's drenched face appeared above her, one dripping Nasod arm stretching down to help her up. She gladly took it, pulling herself up and grabbing her claymore on the way.

"She's too... powerful," Raven panted, and he was hunched over like his side was paining him. "We're going to have to retreat."

Retreat?

It was something Elesis had done before, but for some reason, the word sent a flare of anger through her. Was _she_ , the Dancer of Flames, going to lose to some fish-faced woman because of heat and humidity? Wasn't heat _her_ thing?

"Retreat sounds like a bit of a fishy option right now," she snapped, feeling the lovely fire spread down her limbs and into her hand. Except instead of the protective feelings that her fire invoked normally, this fire just gave her rage. Pure anger and disdain for fish-face over here.

With a cry, she charged, and everything went blank.

"She's coming around."

Elesis blinked, trying to figure out her surroundings. It wasn't muggy. Why wasn't it muggy? Where was she?

A room decorated in scarlet and purple came into view, along with two worried faces. Golden eyes glared down at her with a strangely protective sort of anger, and red eyes were just scanning to make sure she was alright.

"What were you doing?" Raven asked, right before Elsword shoved him and tackled his prone sister in a hug.

"I was so worried! You took on Silena by yourself!"

"I... Silena?" Elesis asked fuzzily. Her brain felt like it was stuffed with cotton. Slowly, bits and pieces of the fight came back into her mind.

"Yeah. That's the mermaid's name, apparently. You made her retreat. Pesop says the demons hypnotized her, so we're gonna have to dump the antidote into the hot springs sometime soon, but right now..."

"Els, shouldn't you go tell Pesop that Elesis is awake?"

Elsword stopped in the middle of his sentence, looked guiltily up at Raven, then turned and ran from the room.

Elesis tried to move her head to see Raven better, focusing in on his face.

"You had me worried there," he said quietly. Now Elesis realized where she was – in a back room of Pesop's shop, lying on a cot.

"You blasted Silena with this huge fireball and nearly ripped her open with your claymore. We couldn't even get close because of the ring of fire around you two. She fled, and then you passed out. We all thought you were going to die."

"Can't kill me that easily." That's what she was trying to say, but it came out hoarse and scratchy. She coughed, repeated herself, and then added something else.

"Besides, I could hardly call myself a swordsman if my claymore got heavy with just heat and humidity, right?"

Raven gave her his almost-smile in agreement. Elesis shifted in the warm, _dry_ bed.

"I hate Lanox's summers, by the way," she grumbled, and the corners of Raven's lips twitched.

"Yeah," he agreed, then leaned down for a quick "thank literally everything that you aren't dead" kiss before Elsword got back with Pesop.


	23. Failure

**Raven – Blade Master**

 **Elesis – Grand Master**

* * *

The night was dark around her, the wind sighing and rustling the desert sands. Her claymore lay in the sand at her side, carefully propped up on a stone so that the hilt was in easy reach. Elesis herself sat cross-legged in the dirt, eyes half closed, listening intently.

Years of campaigning had taught her that sight wasn't much use in the night. Movement was pretty much all you could see, even if you had a light, since candles and shards of Light El couldn't illuminate the entire landscape. No, for night watch, it was far better to use your other senses – like hearing, or even that gut feeling you got when something was creeping up on you and felt like having raw Red-Haired Knight for a midnight snack.

She yawned, not bothering to cover it with one hand, and stood up, heaving her claymore off the ground and settling it over her shoulders. She'd better check Aisha's wards. Everyone else was asleep and it wasn't even midnight.

Yes, they were all pretty tired, she thought as she started walking, heading for the first faint glow of purple magic. Aisha had drawn a strange symbol into the sand which wasn't erased by the whispering winds, even though they had no problem moving the sand around it. The symbol glowed with a deep purple light. Elesis checked to make sure it hadn't turned red – which it would if an attacker had touched or managed to cross the barrier – and moved on.

The Elgang had set out from Hamel a week ago, with three new members of their group. Chung, the little guardian who insisted on shouldering everything himself. Add, a possibly decent guy who insisted on separating himself from the group. And Ara, who seemed to have a peculiar sort of charm that made you pay attention to her. The new arrivals had had plenty of time to assimilate into the daily life of the group. They'd not been fighting much since they left Hamel, giving everyone plenty of time to chat as they rode their separate mounts or walked when the mounts got tired.

Next rune was a cheerful purple. Four more to go.

The only downside of traveling was that one of them had to keep watch at all times. And when it was one of the new arrivals, a more experienced member of the group stayed up with them to teach them the ropes. It usually ended up being Raven or Elesis, and Elesis had just drawn a double shift after an entire day of walking. Yes, that was just as pleasant as you might imagine.

She circled to the third rune and checked it, yawning and glancing enviously at Ara snug in her bedroll. Just one more hour. She could last one more hour, right?

The rune flickered red as Elesis turned away, but she was so damn tired that she didn't even notice.

The next rune was slightly less purple than usual, but since the last one was normal, Elesis wrote it off as a fluke. She knew, though, that she would fall asleep if she sat down, so she kept pacing.

Half an hour passed. Elesis was yawning almost constantly. Her legs felt like they were going to give out under her. Could she wake Raven early, get him to take over the rest of her shift?

No, of course not. That would be like admitting that she couldn't do it. And, Elesis told herself as she sat down just behind the barrier, she could definitely last for the next thirty minutes.

The next thing she knew, she was jolting out of a doze to a snarling monster that looked like it had been carved out of stone.

It pushed against the rune barrier, mere centimeters from Elesis' face. Elesis scrambled back, reaching for her claymore. Where was her claymore? Why wasn't it next to her? She could have sworn she just blinked, just for a second.

Her hand closed around the sword's hilt. She moved to kneel, then stand in one fluid motion, aiming her sword swing for a chink in the thing's armor.

Two things happened at once.

First, she missed. Her eyes were blurry and her arms heavy with sleep and guilt, causing her claymore to glance off the thing's stony armor.

The second was that the barrier shattered.

The rocky monster stepped inside the former barrier, growling at Elesis. This wasn't good. She quickly rubbed her eyes, cursing herself soundly for falling _asleep_ on duty, and repositioned her claymore in her hands. Had anyone woken up? No, she was at the farthest corner of the camp. The closest person would be Raven, and if she turned and ran to wake him, the monster would likely catch up with her.

Elesis blocked a claw swipe, then retaliated with a spinning, armor-breaking swing. The monster's armor didn't so much as crack.

Block. Block again. Elesis was forced to back up in order to defend against the monster's wicked claws, eyes on the thing's glowing pupils and not on the ground behind her.

Metal clinked under her foot, and then her heel hit something. The world tilted around her as she fell, back landing hard on the sand. The monster snarled in triumph, bending down toward the helpless Red-haired Knight.

 _She failed._

Then a blur of shadow appeared behind the monster, a steel blade flashing in the meager light to deliver one killing blow. The monster gagged, snarled, and collapsed.

Raven yanked his blade from the monster, the steel covered in black blood. He knelt to wipe it on the sand.

"I thought you were on watch?"

Elesis struggled to her feet, brushing herself off. "I was. I... I think I fell asleep," she admitted, looking down. The Elgang could have been killed because of her mistake. None of them had any idea what that thing was. If she had slept for another second, if the barriers hadn't been so strong...

"You... fell alseep?" Raven looked up, golden eyes sharp with annoyance and disappointment.

"Raven, I know I failed," she cut across him tiredly. Now that the adrenaline from the sudden appearance was dying down, her eyelids felt like someone had attached weights to them. "I know that we all could have died. Can you possibly kick me harder than I'm kicking myself?"

Raven examined her, blade in hand. "You're lucky that I heard a growl and woke up," he said eventually. "Go to sleep, Elesis. We'll talk this over in the morning."

Normally, that would have riled Elesis up. Raven was acting like her parent, not her boyfriend. Her snappy retort was ruined by a huge yawn, though, and she hated herself for it.

Raven sheathed his blade, took her by the wrist, and led her over to a black bedroll at the edge of camp. Her own was next to the fire, in the middle of a cluster of girls, but she was too tired to care.

"You should have woken me up," Raven said softly as Elesis collapsed. "It's not failure to admit you can't do something."

Elesis wanted to protest – she didn't accept failure from her Red Knights, or from anyone else, why should she accept it from herself? But dark sleep took her before she could say anything.


	24. Rebirth

**Raven – Blade Master**

 **Elesis – Grand Master**

* * *

Elesis sighed as she sorted through scraps of metal. "No... No... Not here... I'm not sure what this is, but it looks like a boot..."

"Mmmh?" Raven looked over his shoulder at her, raising an eyebrow.

"A metal boot. With dolphins." Elesis held up the item for Raven to see. "Think Ryota would accept this instead of that gem she asked us to find?"

"No. She might pay you if you find the other boot." Raven went back to pacing tensely around Elesis.

"Wouldn't it have been better to get Eve or Add to do this?" Elesis chucked the boot over her shoulder and sighed, moving to another pile of metal scrap. "Digging around in ancient Nasod junkyards seems to be much more their style."

"Add refused, Eve slapped Elsword for asking." Raven's voice was just as tense and stiff as his pacing. He kept looking to the north, where the spire of Altera Core rose from the ground.

Elesis stopped digging to look up at him. "Raven, you okay? You seem distracted."

"Huh? Oh, sorry." He snapped back to look at her, his human hand still resting on the blade sheathed at his side. "Have you found anything?"

"You'd be the first to know if I had." Elesis adjusted the huge claymore strapped to her back. "Are we sure we're looking in the right place? Ryota did say it might be hidden. Maybe it's not laying around in a pile of scrap."

Raven looked back toward the north. "It... yeah. Maybe."

"Hey, are you sure you're okay?" Elesis straightened up fully, wiping sweat from her forehead. "You're not usually this distracted." Now that she was looking at him, he seemed intensely uncomfortable. His hand hadn't left the hilt of his blade this entire time. "Raven?"

"I'm sorry." When he looked at Elesis, his stare wasn't as piercing as she was used to. "I can sense a familiar smell, like last time I was here. This is where I... I was reborn."

Well, that explained it.

Elesis instantly stepped to his side. "We don't have to keep going. We can just tell Ryota that we couldn't find it, you know. I don't think she expected us to find it."

Raven shook his head. "If it's anywhere around here, I think I know where it's hidden. Follow me?"

It was phrased like a request, but Raven started walking away without waiting for Elesis' response, leaving her to skirt the scrap heaps and catch up. His arm was twitching, she noted, but she kept silent about it.

Raven got more tense as they drew nearer and nearer to a crumbling spire, about half the size of the entrance to the Altera Core. Elesis watched him with increasing worry until they stood at a dark opening in the spire. Raven stared into the darkness with an odd combination of blankness and force.

"Raven?" Elesis waved her hand in front of his face, looking around the ghostly Nasod graveyard. "We really don't have to do this. Maybe it's not here, or-"

"No."

Elesis blinked, mouth still open from her nervous babble. Did Raven just interrupt her?

Apparently he did, she decided as he started walking forward into the darkness. His movements were just slightly less fluid than normal, just enough to put Elesis on edge. What was going on here? Did the Nasod arm still have some measure of control over him? Elsword had told her that they broke Raven free from that nearly two years ago.

Elesis glanced around nervously and followed Raven, pulling the claymore from her back just in case.

Raven's white coat was barely visible in the darkness. Elesis couldn't see the walls, or the ceiling, and the white spot of light at the end of the tunnel looked depressingly far away when she looked back. But Raven moved forward like he knew where he was going. Elesis decided the best course was to keep her mouth shut and follow him. It was certainly better than getting separated.

Elesis couldn't say how long it was before the tunnel opened out. When it did, she looked around at the large room in nervous curiosity. It was lined with computer screens, most of which looked like they had been broken a long time ago. Elesis imagined it filled with busily working Nasods. It was nearly impossible to reconcile the dilapidated room with a high-tech research center.

Raven stood silently in front of an odd object in the middle of the large room. Elesis walked closer, not sure what the three glass capsules were. One was shattered, one had residual green fluid floating inside it, and the third was perfectly intact and open, though a bit dusty and moldy.

"Raven, what's going on?" She didn't dare raise her voice above a whisper. Somehow it would seem almost sacrilegious. "What are those?"

"Capsules," he whispered hoarsely. "Yes... This is..."

He suddenly bit his lip and turned away. "The gem might be somewhere in here. I'm not sure."

Elesis wasn't overly concerned with the gem anymore. She reached up to touch Raven's human shoulder, jerking her hand back when he flinched. "Raven, what's wrong?"

"Elesis..." Raven's hand suddenly flashed out and grabbed her shoulder, his strong grip tightening to a painful point. She tried to pull away but couldn't.

"This is the place where I was remodeled."

Remodeled? Did Raven mean... this was the place where they gave him his arm?

She wasn't sure what to say about that, so she looked up at Raven. His eyes were half-shut, gleaming with a too-reflective amber light. His arm twitched.

How long had this place featured in his nightmares? she wondered. How long had he been keeping this place a secret?

"You can talk to me, you know," she offered lamely. But when Raven shook his head, she pushed the issue. "Really. You've been bottling this up for, what, three years? Wouldn't it be better to say it?"

"Three years," Raven muttered. "Closer to four, actually."

He looked over at Elesis, releasing her shoulder. "I'm sorry. Did I hurt you?"

Elesis knew she was going to have bruises, but she shook her head. "You said something about four years?"

Raven still hesitated. Elesis reached for his hand.

"Please. I want to know," she said softly. Her gloved fingertips barely brushed his before he yanked his hand away. Elesis withdrew and waited.

"It... took months for my injuries to heal, even with the Nasod technology." Raven walked forward until he was standing in front of the one unbroken capsule, his fingers brushing the label above it. _Experiment Number_ _137._ "I woke up in this pod with no memory of getting here. There were wires hooking me up to things, thick green liquid around me, and half my body was a machine."

His Nasod fist clenched. Elesis couldn't say anything, shocked at his totally detached tone.

"The first time I woke up... I couldn't stand the pain. I passed out. But the second time, the liquid was being drained. The Nasods took me out of the pod, carried me into a separate room..." Raven glanced at a side door. It looked unassuming enough, but chills ran down Elesis' back as Raven described what happened next.

"They gagged me to make sure I wouldn't bite off my tongue. Then they started checking the... _implements_. My arm, my bones, my heart, my enhanced senses... They cut me open. Dismantled me in order to rebuild me."

Elesis saw the little shudder that went through Raven. Maybe it hadn't been such a good idea to make him remember this. But Raven kept talking, even though it sounded like he was forcing himself.

"I think... that happened every week. The cords plugged into my body kept me alive when all I wanted was to die."

Okay, that was it. Elesis stepped forward, the sound loud on the metal floor. "Raven, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have made you talk about this. You don't have to tell me."

Raven paused, then looked back at Elesis. His eyes were still glowing.

"No. I'd rather you know," he said firmly. Elesis bit her lip and nodded. If Raven was going to be stubborn about this, there was really no point in her arguing, she told herself, ignoring the nagging voice that said she just wanted to know.

"About six months in, there was an escape opportunity. I was left alone for fifteen entire minutes. I managed to detach the cords, open the pod, and find my blade in a bid to get out." His voice cracked slightly. "But just before I reached the exit, my arm... realized I was trying to escape. It shut down the mechanical parts of my body." He paused. "I... was lucky to live."

Elesis recalled that his heart had been among the list of things enhanced or replaced. Had that been shut down, too? Would the Nasods kill Raven like that?

Then again, he was simply a test subject to them, number 137. Elesis watched in horrified sympathy as Raven bowed his head.

"My arm was recoded after that. They gave it the ability to... control me. I wanted to kill myself, but it wouldn't let me. It wouldn't let me kill my... _masters_ either." Raven spit out the word like it was poison. "It forced me to carry out their orders. I was told to command a ship, so I did. I was told to kill hundreds, maybe thousands of... people, so I did. I was told to attack another passing airship, find the El shard on it, and bring it to them..."

He stopped in surprise when Elesis hugged him from behind. The teenager rested her chin on his shoulder.

"But then my little brother came in, right?" she whispered. "He and Aisha and Rena brought you out from the arm's control. That's over now."

Raven was silent for a long moment, then his human hand settled over hers. "Yeah."

They stayed like that for a few minutes, Raven looking around this place where he had been forced to endure so much, Elesis turning over this new information in her mind. Raven wouldn't want her pity, she reminded herself. But yet, the detached tone in his voice when he talked about what had happened to him... It was more horrible than any amount of breaking down and sobbing.

"Didn't we have a job to do?" Raven finally asked. "Ryota will be getting impatient."

"Ryota can damn well wait," Elesis grumbled, but released Raven. "Where do you think the gem is?"

"Side door to the left. Power supply room." Raven stared at the door. "Can you... get it?"

Elesis silently retrieved the fist-sized stone and gave it to Raven, who slipped it into his jacket pocket. And together, they turned and began the long climb back up to the regular world, away from the silent chamber in which Raven had been reborn.


	25. Breaking Away

**Raven – Reckless Fist**

 **Elesis – Blazing Heart**

* * *

"Elesis, help!"

Elesis immediately whirled around at her little brother's shout. Where was he? The forest was dark, formidable, with little floating sparks from the flames all around.

"It's Raven!"

Shit.

She sprinted along the path to where she knew Elsword and Raven were, ignoring the dryads along the way. They could take care of them later. If Raven had lost his sanity...

She sprinted around a corner, then skidded to a stop at the sight before her. Raven was straining against Elsword, their blades locked hilt to hilt. Raven's Nasod arm was twitching and spasming out of control.

"Raven!" Elesis yelled, rushing to help her little brother. With their combined strength, they managed to throw Raven off, sending him to crash against a tree a few feet away.

Raven yelled in pain and rage, his entire lean body sparking with electricity. His gold eyes were fierce and wild, holding no signs of recognition as he glared at the Seighart siblings.

"You," he snarled, his voice distorted and choked with rage. "I'll kill you both!"

"Raven, no!" Elesis yelled as he charged. But he kept coming with that wild frenzy in his eyes. Elesis barely dodged his punch, swinging her claymore up to knock his blade away from Elsword.

"Els, get help. I'll hold him off," she ordered. Elsword nodded.

"Has he... lost it?" Elsword's voice cracked as Raven turned back around, growling low in his throat.

Elesis didn't answer. "Just go!"

Elsword turned and ran.

Elesis glanced back to make sure he was gone, then turned again to face Raven, readying her claymore. "Raven, it's me. It's Elesis," she tried, but to no avail.

Raven lunged with a wild stab. Elesis parried it, ducked a blast of flame from Raven's arm, and rolled behind him, raising her claymore.

Raven spun on a dime, knocking away the sword with his arm. Elesis barely managed to keep hold of it. Now she was on the defensive, desperately dodging and blocking as Raven advanced, arm and blade swinging in massive, destructive blows. One mistake, she knew, would be the end of her.

"Raven, please," she gasped out, narrowly missing a punch. Raven's golden eyes narrowed.

"Are you _begging_? Pathetic," he spat.

Elesis used a quick sidestep to avoid Raven's Wild Charge. Talking was useless.

Quick, what helped him get out the first time? He was defeated by Elsword, she remembered, setting her claymore on fire and using it to block a claw strike. Well, if that would help, then perhaps she should go on the offensive.

Elesis suddenly threw her arm out, willing her body to become like iron. A red aura blossomed around her and slammed Raven back, making him stagger a good two feet away.

Before he could recover, she attacked him, fire and claymore working together in the deadly dance she had perfected over the years. They had sparred together many times. Elesis knew that the trick was to keep him on the defensive, not give him an attack opening. So she used fire. She used her claymore. She even kicked him in the balls. Anything to keep him moving backward, pressing him, stalling out the fight until help arrived.

Swing up, down, up, dash forward with two circling strikes, drive in with a blazing hand, spin around the other way to cut widely and force him back. The forest was dark around them.

"Raven, please. Come back to us," she pleaded, knocking away his attempt to attack and instead pouring her strength into two arcs of fire, sent straight at him. Those, he dodged, but immediately had to block her follow-up claymore attack.

"I don't know what you mean," he snarled, twisting his blade around and lashing out with his Nasod arm. Elesis didn't see the attack in time, eyes focused on his twisting blade. The metal arm caught her claymore, yanking it from her hand and tossing it contemptuously away.

"Die," Raven growled, bringing his fist back. Elesis willed her body again to be like iron, deflecting the attack.

She didn't see the blade stabbing straight at her chest.

Through some miracle, she twisted at the last moment, but the cruel black blade slid easily through her side and part of her left arm. The pain was so intense that her vision edged itself with black. Her knees gave out, making Elesis collapse on the dirt ground.

"Raven, please!" she groaned as he readied his fist.

 _The voice..._

 _It was familiar..._

 _Why was it familiar?_

 _The anger was wrapped around him. Chaining him._

 _The voice told him he had nothing to worry about._

 _But the voice._

 _That face._

 _That was Elesis on the ground._

 _The voice was his friend. The voice had betrayed him._

 _His friends had betrayed him before._

"Raven!"

 _He strained against the chains, feeling them loosen around his body._

It was no use. The fist grew larger in her vision, and she shut her eyes, ready for the blinding pain and silence and relief from the agony.

Imagine her hazy confusion when it didn't come. Elesis' side and arm still felt like a white-hot dagger was twisting under the skin, creating a pain so intense that she couldn't even scream.

She managed to open one eye. Orange and black filled her entire vision, which was confusing until Raven's fist drew back. Then a soft noise of someone dropping down beside her.

"Elesis, oh El, I'm so, so sorry," Raven whispered, and it sounded like _her_ Raven, gentle and caring as a human hand slid under her head and a glass bottle was held to her lips. Thick, syrupy liquid lapped against her mouth, nudging it open, and she swallowed on reflex until the pain lessened to a manageable amount. Less agony and more... well... simple pain.

Elesis could deal with simple pain.

"I'm sorry," he whispered again, and Elesis felt herself being gathered up by one incredibly gentle, yet strong, human arm. She opened her eyes, looking up, and saw total horror written across Raven's face and in his golden eyes.

"I could have killed you. I almost did kill you," he murmured, burying his face in Elesis' shoulder. She was too exhausted to hug him back.

"How did you do it? How did you break away?" she murmured,

"I..." Raven pulled away, looking down at her with the familiar love, and worry, and concern. "I don't know. I just heard your voice and it drowned out the... _other_... one."

Elesis tried to smile, not knowing how successful she was. And then her eyes rolled up from painful blood loss, and she passed out in Raven's mismatched arms.


	26. Forever

**Raven – Blade Master**

 **Elesis – Grand Master**

* * *

Elesis couldn't stop the small gasp that escaped her at the view.

The land surrounding Lanox stretched on for miles, lit only by volcanic rivers winding their way across the landscape. The foggy sky gave the whole scene almost a mystical air, especially when combined with the crumbling ruins around them. And since Raven and Elesis had climbed as high as they could get, the land dropped below them in a stunning display of darkness and fire.

"I thought you'd like it." Raven's voice had the tiniest hint of satisfaction in it, which for him was the equivalent of a giant smug smile. Elesis looked over at him. The Blade Master's white coat stood out like a shining beacon in the dark surroundings.

"I do," Elesis replied, spinning around to get the whole stunning picture. "They really don't have views like this in Velder, do they?"

"They don't... But I prefer crows cawing to the roaring of lava rivers." Raven surveyed the landscape, seeming to assess it. Elesis watched him for any clue to why he had practically dragged her up here. He'd given off the air that it was very important, but now that they were here, he seemed... nervous.

"So, what's going on?" she asked, spotting a firebird wheeling lazily over a bubbling lake of lava. She watched it in fascination for a few moments. "Was there something you wanted to talk about? You've been acting weird all week, really."

"I... I have?"

"Yeah." Elesis tore her eyes from the bird, looking back at Raven. Yes, he was shifting his weight, a classic sign of nervousness. What was up? "You have. Doing weird little nice things for me, not yelling at Aisha for using magic on Elsword until he was a literal ice cube... What's on your mind?" Was it bad news? Had he gotten poisoned, or did he want to break up, or...?

"There _is_ something I wanted to say," Raven admitted.

"Who's dying?" Elesis braced herself for the answer.

"What?" Raven's face was blank for a moment, before comprehension dawned in those glinting gold eyes. "Oh. No, it's not... bad news."

Then what could it be? Elesis watched Raven look at the ground, slipping one hand into his pocket.

"I almost feel selfish asking this," he confessed, and Elesis tilted her head. Was it a favor or something? What favor was so important that it couldn't be said in front of the Elgang?

"You know I love you...?"

What did that have to do with anything? Was this preparing for something? Raven wasn't prone to random declarations of love.

"I love you too," she answered. "Why are you saying this all of a sudden?"

"Because I wanted to... ask you something."

Elesis stepped back, her hands flying to her mouth, when Raven dropped to one knee in front of her.

"Elesis, whenever I see you, my spirits lift. You're beautiful, and dependable, and strong, but you still sympathize with everyone. You're the light in my life... and I'm so lucky to have you."

Raven pulled a gray box from his pocket and opened it. Inside were nestled two black rings, one slightly larger than the other. He adjusted the position of the smaller, making sure it was perfectly parallel, and offered the rings up to her with a searching gaze.

Elesis covered her mouth, tears prickling her eyes. Her heart seemed to be growing in size with every word Raven said until it was pushing at her ribcage in an almost painful manner.

"Elesis, my love... Will you marry me, and be by my side forever?"

They could die at any time. As fighters, their forever might not be very long. But judging from the adoring look in Raven's eyes, and the fast beat of Elesis' heart, neither of them cared much right now.

Elesis blinked away the gloss of tears over her eyes, reaching down to take the larger of the two rings out of the box. It was heavy in her grip, and Raven's golden gaze was protective and warm and soft, somehow enveloping her in love.

She slipped the ring onto the ring finger of his right hand.

"Yes," she whispered.

Raven blinked a few times, then a real smile spread over his face, shining with pure happiness and love. He rose, taking Elesis' left hand in his own and slipping the other ring onto her finger. It fit like a custom measurement, encircling her finger as if it belonged there.

Elesis grabbed his hand before he could pull it away, lacing her fingers around his. After a moment, his hand curled in on hers, too, and the rings clinked together with a very satisfying sound.

"Engaged," Elesis murmured, trying the word out and looking up at Raven. He nodded, still smiling.

"Forever," he agreed, and his Nasod arm looped around her waist to pull her in for a hug.


	27. Lost and Found

**Raven – Reckless Fist**

 **Elesis – Crimson Avenger**

* * *

Raven sprinted after Elesis, praying that he had judged where she was going correctly. He wasn't hearing terrified screams, so she probably hadn't gone on a rampage after Elsword lost his temper and told her to go kill herself. That was good.

The bad part was that she might actually try and kill herself. And if she did, Raven thought he knew where she would be. There was an out-of-the way place at the very edge of Hamel...

Raven panted freely as he ran, cursing how large Hamel was. The splashing sound of water echoed ahead of him, though, so he doubled his pace and turned a corner to come upon the large fountain. It was so large that it could even be called a small park, complete with convoluted paths winding through it.

Jetstreams of water shot over the paths, arcing into perfectly placed indents and draining away slowly. Lotus flowers floated in still pools, and gold and blue decorations adorned the paths. In the middle of it all was two statues inside a basin, set slightly deeper than everything else. A white marble statue of Sasha, the Water Priestess, knelt before a silver El Lady who was pouring water into Sasha's cupped hands. It was rumored that whoever drank from the hands of the statue would see the future.

Elesis balanced on the rim of this basin, staring into the water below. She didn't even look around as Raven ran up.

She was alive. Good. Raven slowed to a stop, nearly skidding on the slippery marble floor, wincing at the painful stitch throbbing in his side.

"Elesis," he gasped, bending over and clutching at the stitch. "Come down... You're going to fall."

For a moment, she didn't speak. Then a little chuckle came from her. The chuckle grew until she was cackling, holding her sides with mirth.

Raven straightened up, the pain in his side forgotten in the strange laughter. What was wrong with Elesis?

"She won't fall." The tone was amused. Too amused for Elesis. Could it be that this wasn't her? Had the Shade taken over?

Raven's suspicions were confirmed when the girl's head turned, staring at Raven with eyes which glinted with darkness. Her tone, however, stayed light.

"I wouldn't let my vessel die so soon. No matter how much she wants to."

"Shade." Raven's Nasod fist clenched. So this was what Elesis had inside her head, the little persona that constantly pushed and degraded her.

He wanted to kill it.

"Raven," the Shade mocked, and pivoted neatly on the wet stone. "Have you come to stop my vessel from committing suicide? How thoughtful."

 _KILL IT. IT'S INSULTING YOU,_ the Nasod arm hissed in his mind. Raven did his best to ignore it.

"Where is Elesis?"

The Shade sighed, pivoting halfway to walk on the slippery edge of the fountain. Raven scrambled to keep up.

"She's given up, of course. For a human, she's surprisingly strong." There was a note of disappointment in its voice. "Even now, she won't let me go on a killing spree. That sucks. I like the scent of blood... and fear..."

The Shade's chuckle was menacing as its tongue flicked out, licking its lips in anticipation.

"Oh well. She's sinking deeper and deeper every moment. It won't be long now before she's lost forever, and then I can have all the blood I want."

"You'll never succeed. We'll stop you."

"You and what army?" The Shade paused, looking down at Raven theatrically. "You can't kill me without killing your _girlfriend_."

 _KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL-_

The Shade laughed, seeing the murderous look on Raven's face and the twitching Nasod arm. "I love that arm. Maybe you could surrender to it and we could have an intelligent conversation!"

Raven shut his eyes to block out the Nasod voice in his head, swallowing down his rage at the Shade. Getting mad wouldn't help, not right now.

 _WELL WHAT ELSE ARE YOU GONNA DO, TALK TO IT?_ the voice grumbled. _JUST PUNCH IT UNTIL IT GIVES UP._

"No," Raven gritted out aloud, answering both evil assholes in one word. The Shade yawned.

"No? Ah, such a shame. I really do have to thank that Conwell thing, though, for making the little redhead lose his temper-"

"Elesis, come out," Raven interrupted. He took a few running steps and leapt up in front of the Shade, doing his best to keep his balance on the slippery stone.

 _I DIDN'T MEAN LITERALLY TALK TO IT, BASTARD!_

"I know you're scared. Elsword didn't mean what he said," he continued, trying to look beyond the Shade's cold glare. Elesis had to be somewhere in there. The Shade had admitted as much. "And I know what it's like to want to kill yourself. I've tried. The arm wouldn't let me, and your Shade won't let you."

"You know she can't hear you," the Shade said conversationally, but its voice sounded strained. Almost like Elesis' when she was trying to keep the Shade under control. Raven pressed on.

"Follow my voice if you're lost. Don't let the Shade murder hundreds of innocent people. Senace doesn't need another massacre by someone it trusts, and we don't want to kill you."

"Shut up!" the Shade screamed, the darkness flickering. It raised one taloned hand, shoving Raven with all the force that Elesis' strong body could muster.

Raven staggered back with the Nasod voice screaming at him. His foot slipped as he put it down, sending him tumbling down into the water. Before he fell, though, he felt the Nasod arm lash out and grip something.

Then he hit the water. He almost inhaled in shock, only remembered not to because of his arm's sudden silence (Nasod technology didn't like water very much), and heard another heavy splash beside him.

Raven fought to orient himself. The pool was only about four feet deep, but it was still a struggle to stand and poke his head above water. Finally, his head broke the surface, and he gasped for air gratefully.

The Shade. Where was it? It wasn't on the basin ledge like before. Had his Nasod arm pulled it in with him?

Something broke the surface behind Raven. He whirled around, shaking water from his hair, to see soaking red hair being pushed out of red-gold eyes. The drowned-rat look worked better for her than the possessed-by-darkness look.

"Elesis," Raven murmured, reaching for her. She slapped his hand away and stared blankly at him.

Without a word, she turned to hoist herself from the water. Raven followed after a moment of stunned silence, suddenly wondering if taking a dip in the basin would be considered blasphemy. He climbed over the railing and glanced up at the El Lady, who was still smiling down at the bowed form of Sasha as the water tinkled from her pitcher to overflow in the priestess' cupped hands.

"I'm sorry," he mouthed. There was no response from the statue.

He turned to see Elesis staring at him, her lank hair and tight clothes dripping with water. Her stare wasn't quite as flat as normal.

"If it ever takes me over again, kill me."

Raven opened his mouth to protest, then found he couldn't. Wasn't that the same order he had given Elsword in case he lost his sanity to the arm? Was there a difference?

"Okay," he said finally. Elesis nodded once and spun around, examining the watery paths.

"Thank you... for finding me," she murmured without looking at Raven. Then she started walking, making Raven run to catch up and wonder if he had really heard those five words.


	28. Light

**Raven – Veteran Commander**

 **Elesis – Blazing Heart**

* * *

 _Elesis belonged to the light. It was obvious in her constant smile, the confidence with which she walked, her bad puns and jokes, and her ideals of justice and fair play. But sometimes, even for her, the light could be blinding._

"Hellfire Gatling!"

Elesis hid behind a mirror, hearing the barrage of bullets and the second yell as Raven's arm overheated. Hopefully that didn't do _too_ much damage to him. Tarnavash snarled in pain at Raven's assault.

Good.

The mirror started to turn. Elesis jumped away from it, wondering what was happening, but nothing seemed to happen beside a drain on her magical energy.

That was really enough to get her away from the mirror and back into the fight, just as Tarnavash leaped behind Raven and raised one wickedly clawed paw. Raven rolled out of the way right before she slammed her paw down.

While the beast was recovering, Elesis rushed in and struck Tarnavash, setting her claymore on fire before pulling it out and commanding flames to circle in front of her. Tarnavash was forced to back towards the wall before the fiery onslaught.

"The mirrors are moving again," Raven yelled in warning. Glass shattered on the floor and Raven joined Elesis to try and break though Tarnavash's defense, looking much better after downing a health potion.

Tarnavash growled and disappeared. Elesis whirled around, vaguely aware of Raven doing the same, as Tarnavash appeared back behind them and swiped. Elesis involuntarily shut her eyes as the paw got close, then she felt an iron grip on her wrist and Raven yanked her back.

"Careful!"

"Sorry. Wasn't expecting that," Elesis panted, cursing herself and reopening her eyes. "Lovely mana gain she's got."

Raven grunted agreement over the creaking of turning mirrors. Now the twin beams of light were shining directly onto the stone platform.

"Do you know what the mirrors are?" Elesis asked, readying herself for another bout with Tarnavesh. Raven shrugged with his right shoulder only.

"The Nasod gave me their components, not their knowledge."

Elesis laughed. Then the temperature of the room dropped by about fifty degrees, making Elesis' bare midriff clench in protest.

"Bubbles," Raven snapped out, and Elesis dove away from him to avoid the freezing bubbles that Tarnavesh was summoning. The bubbles rose between her and Raven, blocking them off from each other.

"Raven?" Were the bubbles accompanied by this light mist before? _No, they weren't_ , Elesis answered herself. She set her claymore ablaze again and swiped it through the air, trying (and failing) to burn away the fog and chill. For some reason, the fog was dampening all sound. It was strangely ominous without the ever-present sound of rushing water filling the room.

"Raven, you there?"

No reply. Elesis spun around, trying to see through the mist to Raven – only to spy Tarnavesh prowling from the fog.

The beast pounced. Elesis jumped back, then ducked under the freezing ice blast that Tarnavesh let loose.

"Raven!" she yelled louder. Was he alive? _Lady El, Priestesses Gloria and Ignia, please let him be alive,_ she prayed silently.

Tarnavesh snarled and prowled forward. Elesis backed up, searching for a way around her and finding none. She couldn't even see where the stone ended and the water began in this mist – assuming the water was still there.

"Sssstate yourrrr name and purrrrposssse," Tarnavash growled. The words were barely recognizable as human speech, with sharp hisses and drawn-out sounds.

"Now!"

"Elesis Seighart. They call me the Blazing Heart," Elesis said quickly. "I, uh, my companion and I were sent to scout the Ancient Waterway by the people of Hamel."

"Why you? Why not the young prrrrince SSSeikerrrr orrrr anotherrrr of the Hamel Guarrrrd?" Tarnavash lunged forward, teeth snapping shut an inch from Elesis' nose. She scrambled backward.

"Uh, Prince Seiker's hurt. Badly. And the Hamel Guard is trying to protect Senace Kingdom from demons." Elesis brought her claymore up to ward off the beast, setting it afire again. "Why are you asking all this? And where is Raven?"

Tarnavash didn't answer for a few moments, red eyes boring into Elesis. Elesis started gathering fire into her left hand, just in case -

And then Tarnavash _purred_ , sat down, and started licking her paw like an oversized cat.

Elesis stared. Tarnavash looked at her in amusement through the thinning mist. The sound of moving water was starting to reach Elesis' ears again.

"Ssssorrrrry forrrr the initial aggrrrresssssion." Though her voice had lost its sharp edge, it was still beastlike and difficult to understand. "You sssseemed decccent, but I had to make ssssurrrre."

"Elesis!"

Two beams of light cut through the mist – the mirrors, turning. Raven's footsteps suddenly sounded behind Tarnavash.

"Don't kill her!" Elesis shouted before Raven could even raise his blade or arm. "She's not attacking anymore."

Raven stopped himself, arm twitching. He made a small, questioning noise in his throat.

Tarnavash put down her paw and twisted to see Raven better, the rumbling purr dying in her chest. "And what sssside to thissss warrrr do you claim, darrrrk one?"

"Just answer," Elesis pleaded in response to Raven's immediate wary glance at her.

"My name is Raven. I'm a... former mercenary working with the El Search party." Raven looked at Elesis through the whole answer. Tarnavash noticed.

Relief washed over Elesis as Tarnavash didn't slide out those wicked claws or hit Raven with a blast of ice, instead allowing him to step through and stand beside Elesis. She went back to cleaning her injuries with a rough tongue, though she didn't resume purring.

"You arrrre both guarrrrdianssss, then. I have guarrrrrded thissss Ancccient Waterrrrway forrrr many yearrrrssss, mysssself." Tarnavash looked down at Raven and Elesis, examining them. "Blazing Hearrrrt, hmmm? The lasssst one to take that title died in a blaze of flame when herrrr powerrrrssss went out of contrrrrol. Sssshe wassss a brrrrilliant fighterrr. Keep contrrrrol of yourrrr brrrrightnesssss, Elessssissss Sssseigharrrrt."

That was something Allegro didn't tell her. Elesis felt the fire swirling within her as Tarnavash turned to Raven, bending to nudge him with her nose. Raven staggered back from the force.

"You... walk in the darrrrk, do you not?" Tarnavash suddenly made a strange sound, somewhere between purring and choking. It took Elesis a few seconds to realize it was a laugh.

"Ssssome of the besssst guarrrrdianssss usssse darrrrknessss. The Prrrriessstessss Darrrrkmoon is one." Tarnavash nudged Raven again, though this time he kept his balance. "I sssshall take the Blazing Hearrrrt'ssss worrrrd that you arrrre an honorrrrable man."

"Thanks," Raven responded as Tarnavash withdrew. He stepped back to Elesis' side, sending her a questioning glance. Truth be told, Elesis didn't know what was happening either, so she shrugged.

"What are you protecting?" Elesis asked Tarnavesh, sheathing her claymore. Raven's blade, too, slid home into its sheath on his back. "And why did you attack us?"

"A darrrrk forrrrccce hassss invaded Hamel." Tarnavesh sat primly, gazing down at her little human audience with bright eyes. "They hold the powerrrr to corrrrrupt even a divine beasssst like me. I wissssh to rrrremain in my rrrright mind. I ssssenssssed that you sssserrrrve the light, Elessssissss, but I didn't know about the man. Rrrraven." Tarnavash's glance switched to Raven for a mere second before focusing back on Elesis with laser precision. "Assss to what I am guarrrrding... Well, you two have passsssed my tesssst. But I do not know if you arrrre being trrrricked. I wissssh to tessst the otherrrr memberrrrsssss of yourrrrr group, thissss "El Ssssearrrrch Parrrrty", beforrrrre I rrrreveal that."

Raven and Elesis glanced at each other. Tarnavash stood and stretched luxuriously.

"It ssssshould not be harrrrd forrrr them to passsss," she murmured through a yawn. "And I sssshall give you a little ssssecrrrret." She straightened and apparently tried to wink, though she just ended up blinking in a very catlike manner.

"If you wissssh to avoid my clones and the missst, turrrrn the anccccient device beforrrre the light hitssss the floorrrr. And Elessssisss?"

"Yes?" Elesis was starting to like this catlike guardian. Raven, when she looked over at him, seemed indifferent – but then again, he seemed indifferent about nearly everything.

Tarnvash padded over to Elesis, licking her cheek. Her tongue was rough and probably the most catlike thing about her.

"Rrrrememberrrr to guarrrrd yourrrrsssself assss well assss otherrrrsss. Yourrrr firrrre can turrrrn on you. It hassss happened beforrrre," she said softly. Her breath, when she drew back, smelled oddly like fish. "And pleasssse, rrrrefrrrrain frrrrom calling upon the El Lady unlessss you trrrruly need too. If sssshe appearrrrs, I asssssurrrre you, you will not like the rrrresssult. Call upon the priesssstessssessss of Firrrre and Light if you need."

Then Tarnavash turned, stopping Elesis' immediate question about the advice she had just been given by switching her tail across the girl's face, and stalked away. A few meters down the path to the ancient device, she shimmered and disappeared in a latticework of light.

"What did that mean?" Raven asked softly. Elesis stared after Tarnavash, shaking her head.

"I don't know. But I think I'll do as she says." She looked up at Raven, reading worry in his mostly neutral expression. "You don't get to be an powerful divine beast of Light or whatever by being stupid, right?"

But she did wonder, as Raven hummed agreement, why Tarnavash had cautioned against calling upon the El Lady so strongly.


	29. Dark

**Raven – Veteran Commander**

 **Elesis – Blazing Heart**

* * *

 _Raven belonged to the dark. It was obvious in his prowling walk, his taciturn sternness, and his low opinion of human ethics. Where Elesis walked firmly on the side of the light, Raven paced the shadowy lines between bright and dark._

 _And sometimes, the dark tried to pull him over completely._

Raven chucked three grenades at Ran, slashed his sword through a burning flame, and dove into a combination of blade and arm attacks, attempting to lock the elusive earl down. Merciful El, this guy's armor was good. Way too good. And his skills were on par with Ara's, too, which wasn't exactly pleasant.

Ran brought his own sword up, clashing against Raven's blade and trying to twist it from his hand. Raven had to brace his blade with his Nasod hand, shutting his mind to the insidious whispers of darkness and sorrow that came from Ran's sword.

 _You're a worthless piece of scum, Raven. You know that. You should just give in. Stupid, slow, even Tarnavash was scared of you. You belong with the darkness. Your kin._

Raven shook his head to clear it, glaring at Ran. The earl was smiling creepily.

"Flame Wall!"

Raven disengaged and leapt back just before a wall of fire blazed up between him and Ran, nearly scorching his coat. Elesis' running footsteps approached from behind.

"Oy, you okay?"

"Yes," Raven panted, glancing over at Elesis. "His sword-"

An ethereal shadow clone appeared between them, forcing both fighters to dodge out of the way of the all-too-real swipe. When they reunited, a good five feet away from the spot, Raven warned Elesis about the sword's whispers.

"Seriously?" Elesis glanced over at her wall, which was dying down. "I haven't heard anything. But I'll avoid a lock anyways. And- oh shit, we'd better move!"

The wall had died down. Ran looked murderous as he stepped towards them and raised his arm. A maze of complex lines drew itself on the floor, and pebbles caught in the matrix started to shake.

Raven couldn't sense magic. But he didn't need to know what the spell was to know it was bad news.

Elesis spun and ran away. Raven followed her, slipping into the shadows to travel faster. (He really liked doing this, for what it was worth. The world darkened and slowed around him, making him feel powerful, useful...) He ended up under a platform which Elesis jumped up on, fumbling in the canisters at his belt for a mana potion while he watched Ran.

The trembling loose pebbles rose up in the air, taking sizable chunks of walkway with them, spiralling from the demon earl's spell. Raven tore the plastic cover from the mana potion and downed it, throwing the glass bottle off the walkway once he was done, not wanting to imagine what would have happened had he and Elesis been caught in Ran's trap.

Ran snarled, pierced his sword into the ground, and dropped to press his hand against the stone in one smooth motion. The pebbles and rock pieces crashed like – well, like stones. Then they were buffeted up again by pillars of black magic rising from the ground, wreaking havoc on anything they touched.

"Pleasant," Elesis remarked. Raven barked a short and sarcastic laugh.

"Oh, shush," she chided him. "Let's attack all of the clones... This battle won't be easy."

"The clones can be dodged," Raven argued. "We need..."

Ran flew out of the smoke with murder written all over his face. Raven backpedaled, throwing grenades directly on the spot where Ran was going to land, but the explosions didn't seem to do anything as he landed in the flames.

Ran walked forward through the fire, motioned with a hand, and Elesis shrieked and fell from her platform. Four bloody gashes were torn through her coat from the shadow claw.

"Elesis!" Raven shouted, trying to move to her, but Ran attacked. His blows were stunningly powerful, lightning fast, and Raven had to forget about helping Elesis in favor of staying alive himself.

Left arm up. Blade forward, get deflected, draw back in time to block the one-two-overhead swing, take the side cut with the Nasod arm, duck the shadow claw behind you, curse when it goes through Ran like it's the insubstantial piece of darkness that it really is...

Ran's sword shrieked with glee every time Raven blocked a strike.. _Yes, yes, wear yourself out, weakling! You're worthless in the end, so why bother?_

Ran swung. Raven thrust up his blade in a parry. By some sheer stroke of luck, he managed to deflect Ran's sword in such a manner that Ran staggered and fell to one knee.

Now! Elesis was struggling to her feet. Raven stepped forward, slipping into the shadows... and stopped.

He couldn't move.

The whispers were all around him.

 _The high and mighty Raven._

 _Caught in the shadows._

 _Using the powers of darkness for 'good'._

 _Who are you to say what's good?_

 _Who are you to deal out justice?_

 _You are responsible for the chaos in Altera, in Bethma._

 _You are responsible for the deaths of thousands._

 _Shouldn't you just..._

 _die?_

 _Die?_

 _Die..._

 _DIE!_

Raven struggled to move, to breathe, to get away from those creeping voices. He could see Elesis trying to get up, could see a shadow clone appear and plant its foot on her neck. No matter how much he struggled against the shadows, once so friendly and now so restraining, he couldn't stop the dark sword from raising.

Ran was chuckling.

"Are the voices too much?" he taunted. "Ahh, Raven. You're such a powerful tool."

High boots clicked on the stone floor as Ran walked around. He shouldn't have been able to see Raven, cloaked in shadow as he was. He definitely shouldn't have been able to slip one cold, revolting finger under Raven's chin and meet burning golden eyes with sadistic black ones.

Time slowed down even more. The shadow clone's sword seemed to be descending through molasses, Elesis' struggles more pitifully slow than a dragonfly wrapped in a spider's web.

"Darkness is so firmly on your side... it's enchanting," Ran whispered, examining Raven's scarred face in fascination. "Not like that pathetic human over there, committed to light. Join us, Raven. You can have all the power you want, all the revenge you need..."

 _Why not?_

 _You're worthless to the Elgang._

 _Always have been._

 _Always will be._

 _Elsword keeps you around out of pity._

Raven gritted his teeth. "Stop," he growled, both at the voices and at Ran's smug smirk. Neither obeyed. "I won't join you."

"Why not?"

Why...

The little voices shrieked in glee. Raven choked on his own words, suddenly filled with self-doubt, loathing, and insecurity like he hadn't felt since he was a teenager. Did the Elgang really think anything of him? Were they just using him?

"Of course they're using you." Ran's voice was smoother than melted chocolate. Raven hated chocolate. "We would respect you for your power. You could be a leader again, a commander, and you could even have your old comrades back. All you have to do is say the word..."

 _It's a good deal,_ one small voice offered, and the whispering chorus took it up.

 _An amazing deal._

 _You should be honored._

 _An earl is paying attention to you._

 _He respects you._

 _Nobody else respects you._

No, no, none of that was true, Raven protested weakly. He tried to shake away the voices, but they were playing on his worst fears, his own emotions. Hate and doubt swirled hand in hand, making him second-guess himself as he stared into Ran's eyes. What if he accepted? What if he let the darkness take him? He felt the blackness tugging at him, completely willing to carry him away to a world where he could mete out justice and mercy as he pleased, where he would be in control. His power would know no limits.

Ran smiled. The shadow clone's sword kept descending.

And through all the darkness, through all the loathing and doubt and despair, one small spark of rage burned. Did Ran want him to become a _traitor_?

Raven seized that spark, willing it to grow. The fire grew, pushing back the negativity and making Ran stop smiling.

Raven liked it when Ran wasn't smiling. It made it easier to resist him.

"I would never betray my comrades," he growled, raising his blade. "Certainly not for _you_."

 _You're missing an opportunity!_ the voices wailed, but Raven's rage had full control now. He was done listening to the shadowy voices. He stabbed forward instead, aiming straight for Ran's heart, watching as his blade pierced through a weak spot in the enameled armor and hit the soft flesh inside.

Ran evaporated into purple smoke. Raven fell forward onto the cold stone floor, time sped up again, and the shadow clone disappeared with the tip of its sword just hovering over Elesis' skin.

Their eyes met. Pained gold crossed confused red.

Something clattered onto the ground behind Raven.

"Where did Ran go? He was there a second ago," Elesis rasped, heaving herself up and searching for her claymore. Raven pressed his lips together. How much should he tell Elesis about the power of the darkness? What would she do if she knew that Raven very nearly betrayed the Elgang?

For now, instead of answering, he looked away. Ran's blade was lying abandoned on the ground. Faint whispers of melancholy and hatred were still wafting up from it.

Raven stood, walked over to the blade, and picked it up clumsily in his Nasod hand. It wailed at his touch, hissing and spitting at him for killing its master.

After a second of thought, Raven pressed Ran's blade against his own. The magical black blade absorbed the properties of Ran's blade into itself, exchanging them for another sword that slowly formed in Raven's claw.

"Raven? Are you going to use Ran's blade?" Elesis asked. She must have drunk a healing potion, because her stride sounded as strong as ever when she walked up behind Raven to see what he was doing. "Didn't you say something about little voices?"

Raven cast the other blade into the abyss below the walkway, watching it spin into the blackness.

"It's more powerful. My blade already has a sharper edge," he explained, swinging it experimentally. Then he sheathed the blade and turned to Elesis.

"You okay?"

Elesis nodded, examining him through narrowed crimson eyes. "Something happened. Did Ran say something to you? Is there another reason you're using his weapon?"

Raven reached over his shoulder, putting a hand on the hilt of his blade. The whispers immediately intensified.

"This is karma, and I will bear it," he murmured, prompting a confused and slightly alarmed look from Elesis. He sighed and shook his head.

"Long story... I'll tell you on the way back."

Elesis nodded, and they turned to make their way back through the Halls of Water, Ran watching them discontentedly from an unnoticeable perch atop one of the hall's tall columns.


End file.
